Lorenzo: I feel very good

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo opened up his final weekend with the Japanese manufacturer in the best possible fashion, topping the time sheets in both free practice sessions on Friday in Valencia.

The Spaniard began the day dominantly, dipping underneath the lap record by just over three tenths of a second with a 1m31.045s. In the afternoon, the Yamaha rider improved on his FP1 best by a whopping six tenths and went nearly three tenths quicker than anyone else with a blistering lap of 1m30.463s.

Lorenzo praised the Ricardo Tormo Circuit’s grip and Michelin’s tyre selection. The morning session saw track temperatures barely in double figures, conditions that would usually hinder the Spaniard. Michelin have brought with them two new front tyre constructions, and Lorenzo says that they offer much better grip which allows him to exploit his riding style.

The Spaniard spent much of the second session evaluating the different construction front tyres before trying the soft rear tyre. He says that it provided a lot of grip and came up to working temperature very quickly.

“I feel very good and I think the tarmac has a lot of grip,” he said. “Michelin brought very good tyres for the front and the rear. We tried the new front and it’s different; it has more movability in the corner and the rear has a lot of grip and it warms up quickly.

“I felt good with it. Finally we put in the soft rear tyre to see if it is possible and better to use for qualifying and we saw that it‘s clearly better than the hard one and I set a good lap time, so I‘m satisfied.”

Happy with how his final weekend in Yamaha colours has started, Lorenzo knows that the next couple of days won’t be easy. Both Honda’s Marc Marquez and Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales were not far behind the Spaniard at the end of FP2, and it is his compatriots that he is keeping a close eye on. Lorenzo anticipates a close encounter on Sunday, though is wary of the weather taking a turn for the worse like is predicted.

“For the moment we have started the last weekend with Yamaha in the best way possible: first and first. Marquez is very strong too and Viñales is very fast as well, it will be very close on Sunday if it‘s a dry race, but we are not sure because the weather is uncertain.”