It was a rediscovered Lorenzo who dominated this first day of the Valencia Grand Prix. After a long eclipse of six meetings, Por Fuera remembered everyone in a style that we no longer expected: a few laps then a great time which kept the competition in check. He is well on his way to a forty-fourth Yamaha success. Before heading towards Ducati.
Lorenzo has three successes on the Ricardo Tormo route, including last year. This Friday, he showed that he was able to make it happen a fourth time by dominating both the first and second free practice sessions of this Valencia Grand Prix. All at a record pace, found from the start: “ I'm surprised at my pace today » says the Mallorcan, always so direct.
He insists: “ you can't say that in the last five or six races I was competitive. But here, I felt good straight away. When the track gives good grip and I have confidence in the tires, then I am competitive ».
Now he remains cautious: “ Márquez lapped this afternoon with the hard rear tire. Marc and I are the two drivers who currently have the best pace. We ended up putting on the new soft rear tire to see if it could be an option for qualifying and my time was pretty good ».
Since we are talking about tires, this is the opportunity to point out that Michelin brought 2017 products this weekend: “ When I tried these new carcasses in Brno, I admit I didn't feel any big differences. But I felt good about it today. They heat up well, the grip is good. I was comfortable from the first laps in the morning ».
Now, we must hope that this balance between the sky, the asphalt and the tire continues for the rest of the events. However, we know that weather plans to move towards less sun… “ In precarious grip conditions, you cannot brake as hard as the competition. We lack general grip. Even when temperatures are cooler. But the weekend couldn't have started better. Dominating the first two sessions is always good ". Yamaha has not won this season since Catalonia last June.
