MotoGP News
Date:
4/April/2013
A trio of Yamaha riders dominated the timesheets during
Thursday practice for the MotoGP season-opening Qatar night race.
After 45-minutes under the floodlights at a sandy Losail
International Circuit, reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo held the advantage
by a slim 0.058s over Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow.
Lorenzo said: “It's a very good way to start the season, on
top. To have three Yamahas in the first three positions means this track can be
positive for us. We need to improve though because the other guys will come in
the next practice.”
It was Lorenzo’s Factory team-mate Valentino Rossi who sensationally
led much of the practice session, the former seven time title winner helping to
close the door on two poor years at Ducati as he finished 0.071s behind the
young Spaniard.
Rossi said: “First practice was very positive for us, we are
in third position and we are very close to Jorge. I used just one set of tyres
to understand if I could be fast with a lot of laps. It looks like we can be
competitive.”
Not so competitive, at least on the opening night, were official
Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez.
There had been little between MotoGP’s two leading brands
during winter testing - if anything Honda seemed to have the upper hand. 2012
title runner-up Pedrosa led five of the nine days of official preparation with
rookie Marquez sweeping all three days of a private Austin test.
But the Qatar weekend began with Pedrosa only eighth
quickest after corner entry difficulties left him over one-second from Lorenzo.
Marquez claimed a solid fourth, albeit 0.6s from the head of the field.
“To be on top and see the competitors struggling a little is
good,” confessed Yamaha Team Manager Wilco Zeelenberg.
Two free practice sessions will be held on Friday.
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