FIM MotoGP World Championship Catalunya, Spain June 1, 2012 Free Practice Two Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:42.099 2. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), 1:42.306 3. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (YAMAHA), 1:42.447 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:42.592 5. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:42.639 6. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:42.802 7. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:42.870 8. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), 1:42.943 9. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:43.057 10. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 1:43.134 11. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 1:43.341 12. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:43.538 13. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Aprilia-ART), 1:44.738 14. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Aprilia-ART), 1:44.771 15. Michele PIRRO, Italy (Honda-FTR), 1:45.631 16. Colin EDWARDS, USA (BMW-SUTER), 1:45.868 17. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (Kawasaki-BQR/FTR), 1:46.450 18. Ivan SILVA, Spain (Kawasaki-BQR/FTR), 1:46.500 19. Mattia PASINI, Italy (Aprilia-Speed Master/ART), 1:46.503 20. James ELLISON, UK (Aprilia-PBM/ART), 1:46.836 21. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (Aprilia-IODA/ART), 1:47.436 More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Crutchlow and Dovizioso set scorching practice pace in Catalunya Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso set a scorching pace in baking hot conditions at the Catalunya track this afternoon to finish the opening day of practice for the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya inside the top four. With temperatures at the technically demanding Catalunya circuit soaring to a sizzling 29 degrees, Crutchlow and Dovizioso were able to carry out vital work on the set-up of their YZR-M1 machines in preparation for Sunday’s 25-lap race. Crutchlow imp ressed in this morning’s sun drenched opening session to set the fourth fastest time in a closely contested practice that saw the top 11 split by less than 0.8s. After tweaking the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine to improve grip as track temperatures rocketed to over 50 degrees, Crutchlow was able to lap over 0.8s faster this afternoon. The British rider’s best pace of 1.42.477 put him third on the combined leaderboard and he was just 0.348s behind World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, who set the opening day pace in front of his home crowd. Dovizioso also enjoyed a positive and productive start to the fifth round of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship to finish just one place and 0.145s behind Crutchlow on the timesheets. The Italian was ninth fastest this mornin g, but like Crutchlow he was able to lap considerably faster in the second session. Dovizioso, who has finished fourth in three of his four MotoGP appearances at the Catalunya track, set a best time of 1.42.592. That was almost 0.8s faster than his best in the opening session as he concentrated on assessing tyre endurance in the hot conditions. Cal Crutchlow 3rd 1.42.447 38 laps: “Today was a good start to the weekend and I was fast and competitive in both sessions. The bike was working well right from the start but we can definitely improve it for the rest of the weekend. I need to focus on being faster in the last two corners. On times I’m not too bad in that part of the track but I don’t feel very comfortable, so we need to work on the setting to improve in that section for tomorrow. I am not so far away from the top and can definitely improve my pace, but my best time was done on the soft tyre at the end. I see Casey and Dani only used the hard tyre, so you have to believe that they will be much higher up. I am still happy with my performance today and it is always good to make a positive and fast start to the weekend to build up confidence.” Andrea Dovizioso 4th 1.42.592 41 laps: “I am really satisfied with the work we did today. The times I did were quite fast but we have a lot of margin to improve. I did my best lap time using a soft rear tyre but I didn’t change the front tyre for the whole session. If I had a new front with the new soft rear then I am sure I could have been quicker but it wasn’t worth pushing too hard. I have spent most of the day working on the endurance of the tyres and concentrating on the set-up of the bike to work well for the end of the race when the grip is less. In this heat it will be the rider who can keep the best grip for the longest that will have a good chance in the race, so we worked on this area a lot today and gained some important information. Finally I’d like to show my support for the victims of the recent earthquakes in Italy. This is a difficult moment for many people and my thoughts and prayers are with them.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Scorching Start in Catalunya for Lorenzo Home hero Jorge Lorenzo made a scorching start to the Grand Prix of Catalunya today, dominating the second free practice session from the start. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider was the only rider under the 1’43 mark for most of the session. Lorenzo was briefly off the top spot as a flurry of fast laps came in as the session wound down, but swiftly retook it with a blistering 1’42.099, 0.207 seconds clear at the top. Team mate Ben Spies was clearly enjoying the Catalunya circuit today. Building speed from the first session to the second, he was the first rider to threaten Lorenzo’s top spot in practice two and the second rider to break under the 1’43 mark. A fast consistent pace saw the Texan wrap up the day in seventh on the combined times, with a fastest lap of 1’42.802. Jorge Lorenzo Position : 1st Time: 1’42.099 Laps: 31 “The feeling is good today, we started this morning two tenths behind Casey, then this afternoon from the beginning we’ve been in first position. We tried the hard rear tyre which is very important for this track because it’s a real possibility for the race on Sunday. We must improve some little details, especially the braking as we are arriving in the corners at a very high speed but generally we are good. This is a special race for me so close to my home, I really want to be fighting for the podium and the victory for the fans who have come to see me.” Ben Spies Position : 7th Time: 1’42.802 Laps: 33 “I’m happy, it was a good day. We didn’t set the world on fire but we got down to some decent times and got comfortable on the bike. I think we’ve got some stuff figured out for tomorrow to make the bike quite a bit better. I know what I want out of it; we just need a bit of a different set up. The bike is working really good and the team’s working well, we just need to make the set up a bit better so I can push it harder.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “A very good session this afternoon. It’s still not perfect, we are struggling a bit on braking so we need to try and get the bike stopped better on the end of the straight. Overall we are very happy with our position, P1 is always nice! So far we’re quite pleased, we’ll now work to improve for tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “A good start today for both riders. Jorge is leading; he clearly has the pace and a good base set up. On Ben’s side we are satisfied because he pushed from the start in the morning. His approach is really good so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. We have some settings to adjust but overall it’s looking good.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Productive start for the Repsol Honda Team in Catalunya The Grand Prix of Catalunya got underway today with the first day of free practice and has proved to be, as expected, a demanding test for the riders, bikes and tyres from the beginning. Already very hot in the morning session (26°C), the temperature reached 29ºC in the afternoon and 51ºC on the asphalt, hard conditions which the Repsol Honda riders responded to well. Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa finished sixth and eighth respectively in the Combined Free Practice Times after dedicating the day mainly to working with the tyres on a critical and special track known for its heavy braking, the long time the bike is on the edge of the tyre and the high temperatures. Both riders tried the soft rear compound in the morning, but opted to keep the hard one in the afternoon, when other riders began to use the soft tyre at the end of the session. Casey did his best time in the morning (1’42.775), lapping only four tenths slower in the FP2 (1’43.134), while Dani set almost the same time in both practice sessions (1’42.875 and 1’42.870). CASEY STONER 6th 1’42.775 “It’s been nice to have some good weather and consistent conditions. It’s very hot on track and I think everyone is struggling a little on the soft compound tyre. This afternoon we used the harder tyre and they seemed to be a little more consistent. We’re still not very happy with how the bike is feeling and we can certainly improve on that but we’re fairly happy as far as pace is concerned. Everyone seemed to treat this afternoon’s session like it was qualifying, using the softer tyre but in the end this is their choice! There are lots of things to try before qualifying tomorrow, we need to continue working on reducing the chatter and a few other things, but in general we’re pretty happy”. DANI PEDROSA 8th 1’42.870 “Our main target today has been to properly test the tyres because it will be very important to make the right choice for the race. Here in the past, the soft tyre worked quite well with high temperatures, but we still don’t know how long it will last. I did the whole morning practice with the softer compound and I kept the hard in the afternoon and I felt good with both. My lap times were almost identical in both conditions, and the riders in front put the softer at the end, so I’m not worried with my position today. It’s also true than they have improved the times by a second, so we will need to understand better if the softer will last the race distance. 25 laps are a lot, you spend a lot of time on the edge of the tyre and it’s import ant to keep them ‘fresh’ until the end. We will keep working on some details tomorrow morning in order to be ready for the qualifying”. More, from a press release issued by Speed Master: PASINI ENDS THE FREE PRACTICE N. 2 AT MONTMELÓ WITH THE 19TH TIME The Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya kicked off today, with the first two practice sessions for the MotoGP class. The blue sky and perfect weather conditions allowed Pasini and his crew to take advantage of today in order to arrange the setting of the ART machine, putting together some initial modifications. Mattia also spent some time focusing on the electronics, testing some options in view of the race. In the free practice of the afternoon, the session ended in advance for the Italian, because of a crash with no physical consequences. Mattia will have the chance to comeback and improve in tomorrow’s sessions. Mattia Pasini #54 – 19th with 1’46.503 “In the session of the morning things went ok. In the free practice n. 2, we had a few options to test and we were checking one possibility for the setting we had in mind, when I crashed out. We ended the session in advance because of my mistake, but I’m hopeful. The weekend is long, we have the whole day tomorrow to make up for this and, in particular, the race on Sunday. Now we’ll analyze the data we gathered and we’ll work to define our options for Saturday.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Lorenzo shines in sun-soaked Friday practice Round 5: Catalunya MotoGP™ – Free Practice One and Two Circuit de Catalunya, Friday 1 June 2012 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative) Weather: Dry. Ambient 26-31°C; Track 36-55°C (Bridgestone measurement) Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo set a scorching time of 1:42.099 to be quickest overall in two tightly contested Friday practice sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya. Lorenzo finished fastest overall ahead of fellow Spaniard Alvaro Bautista who rode brilliantly aboard the San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V to miss the top spot by just two-tenths of a second, while Monster Tech3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow was third quickest overall. Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner was the pacesetter in FP1 and in an encouraging sign for a close race on Sunday, the ten quickest riders at the end of Friday practice were separated by just one second. Weather conditions for Friday were sunny and warm with track temperatures at the beginning of FP1 already reaching 36°C and gradually increasing throughout the day to reach 41°C by the end of FP1 and a peak of 55°C during FP2. In FP1 all riders opted for the medium compound slick tyre front and rear to gauge grip levels on the circuit before switching to the hard compound slick tyres front and rear at the beginning of FP2. Towards the end of FP2, many riders, including Lorenzo, utilised the combination of the medium compound rear and hard compound front tyre with the extra grip from the softer rear slick tyre resulting in some very quick lap times towards the end of the session. MotoGP™ action resumes at 1010 local time tomorrow morning (GMT +2) for Free Practice 3, with the one hour qualifying session starting at 1355. Shinji Aoki Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department “The warm temperatures and clear skies combined to create good track conditions for today’s free practice sessions, with grip levels allowing riders to chase some very quick lap times. The pace was very quick throughout the day with the top ten riders setting times separated by just one second. “This circuit is particularly hard on the right shoulder of the rear tyre though our 2012 specification slick tyres performed very well today, with riders using both the softer and harder asymmetric rear tyres during today’s sessions. For tomorrow I expect that some riders will do longer runs on both rear tyre options to see which option will work better for them during Sunday’s race and I also anticipate many riders selecting the harder option front slick tyre in the new specification as this has proven very popular since its introduction at Jerez.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: On the opening day of the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s local rider Jorge Lorenzo who set the fastest time of the day in sunny conditions ahead of a resurgent Álvaro Bautista. With a lap of 1.42’099, Lorenzo topped the combined timesheets of the day, ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Bautista, who was showing some tremendous form in front of his home crowd finishing as top Honda. Third place went to Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who has once again been strong all weekend, and will no doubt be hunting his first ever podium this Sunday. Behind him, by just over one tenth, is his Italian teammate Andrea Dovizioso, who showed significant improvement from his eighth place in the morning session. Surprise inclusion in fifth place is Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá, who was just over half a second down on his compatriot Lorenzo. In sixth spot, Repsol Honda Team’s Casey Stoner stuck with just the hard tyre compound to work on set-up issues, and was the only rider not to go faster than in the morning session. Yamaha’s Ben Spies also showed a marked improvement over his previous outings, by finishing seventh overall, in a bid to get his season’s points challenge underway. Behind the American, Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa also stuck with the hard tyres and could not repeat his feat of second place this morning, and had to settle for eighth. LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl was only marginally behind his factory counterpart, after having recovered from a small crash in the morning session. Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, who in the afternoon could not match his morning session’s boast of top Ducati, rounded out the top ten. Valentino Rossi’s podium last time out was not a sign of things to come, as he finished the session almost 1.5s off the top in 12th, after having switched to his second bike with different gear ratios shortly before the end of the day. Rossi, who like the Repsol Honda pair also only used the hard tyres, said afterwards that the issue was related to rear grip problems. Top CRT spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s local rider Aleix Espargaró in 13th, no doubt buoyed by his home support. Bautista’s teammate Michele Pirro suffered mechanical problems early on and had to push his bike into the pits, while Speed Master’s Mattia Pasini crashed out of practice 14 minutes before the end. In the morning practice, Yonny Hernandez also suffered a bike failure and had to switch to his second machine. Moto2 Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi set the tone for the Moto2™ contingent this weekend at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya ahead of Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró. Lüthi was on the pace all weekend as he topped the timesheets in both of the day’s practices, albeit suffering a crash eight minutes before the end of the afternoon session. The Swiss rider will no doubt still be brimming with confidence though, as his time of 1.46’597 was over half a second quicker than second placed Espargaró. The local Catalan currently lies in the championship lead by one point and will be looking to put on a good show for his home crowd. Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding was also fast all day, as he was third quickest across the day, ousting Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone into fourth. Iannone secured pole position at the Catalan circuit two years ago and looks to be on good form once again, despite putting his bike into gravel earlier in the day. NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex De Angelis lies just fractionally behind in fifth, ahead of S/Master Speed Up’s Mike Di Meglio in sixth. Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami put in a strong showing in seventh, ousting Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio into eighth. JiR Moto2’s French rookie Johann Zarco continues to impress as he recorded the ninth quickest time, ahead of GP Team Switzerland’s Randy Krummenacher, who recovered from a crash in the morning session. Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez had a torrid first day at his home race, finishing the combined timesheets down in 16th. Speculation was rife that his hand injury from the previous round was to blame, yet the rider soon dismissed this and sighted set-up issues for the lack of pace. De Angelis’ teammate Yuki Takahashi suffered electrical problems on his bike early on in the second practice, but managed to head back out on track, whilst QMMF Racing Team’s Elena Rosell suffered a crash late on in the session. Rosell was unhurt in the incident. Moto3 Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi started the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya in style as he set the fastest time of the Moto3™ field on the first day of practice ahead of Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales. Le Mans race winner Rossi set the quickest time of the combined timesheets in the second practice session of the day with a lap of 1.52’624, ousting local favourite Viñales, who was just over one tenth behind. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Sandro Cortese was marginally behind in third, giving spectators hope of a close battle on Sunday. Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira set the fourth fastest time over half a second behind Cortese. The Portuguese rider has been in good form all day, as he looks to kick start his season after not finishing the last three races. In fifth, Cortese’s teammate Danny Kent was starting to show some of his pre-season form, as he looks to emulate his championship-leading counterpart. Sixth place is occupied by Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati, who, like Oliveira, will be aiming to put two unsuccessful previous rounds behind him. Bankia Aspar’s Hector Faubel will be looking to put in a good showing in front of his home crowd, as he put his machine in seventh, and is followed by AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin in eighth place. Ninth went to JHK T-Shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez, who was the only top ten rider to set his best time in the morning session. RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom completes the top ten. The only crasher of the day was Italian youngster Luigi Morciano, who high-sided himself of his Ioda Team Italia bike, with Technomag-CIP-TSR’s Kenta Fujii doing very well to avoid the crash. Morciano walked away from the crash unscathed. More, from a press release issued by Ducati: Ducati Team works on setup for fast Circuito de Catalunya With its long, fast corners, the Montmeló circuit is known for presenting a challenging search for traction, and the high temperatures during the first day of free practice for the Catalan Grand Prix only magnified that characteristic. The lack of grip prevented both Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi from fully utilizing the bike’s power, and they finished tenth and twelfth, respectively, in the combined times. The Italian worked with an eye on Sunday’s race and used only the hard tyre. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 10th (1:43.057) “This morning was pretty encouraging. The position wasn’t great, but 0.471 from the top is about as close as we’ve been in a while. The track temperature was really hot this afternoon, and we struggled a bit getting traction, especially in the long corners that Barcelona is notorious for. If the conditions are the same on Sunday, tyre life could be more critical than we’ve seen in some time. The things we tried from the Mugello test definitely helped a bit, and we still have plenty of ideas to try tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 12th (1:43.537) “Today obviously didn’t go great, but it wasn’t as bad as it seems because when everyone put on the soft tyre at the end, I preferred to continue working for the race and kept the hard. Sure, we still have to improve the setup because we’re having a hard time with acceleration. We can’t find enough grip, and none of the changes we’ve tried so far have worked. This track is always very difficult when it comes to rear traction, but anyway, the other riders were faster, so we also must improve. Tomorrow morning’s session will be very important for trying for a good qualifying position in the afternoon.” More, from a press release issued by Power Electronics Aspar Team: ESPARGARÓ AND DE PUNIET SET CRT PACE POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar pair in dominant form at favourite circuit The temperatures rose on and off the track in MotoGP today as sunshine finally welcomed the paddock to a circuit for the opening free practice sessions, which saw an entertaining duel between home favourites Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo gatecrashed by the unsympathetic Casey Stoner this morning. The Australian for some reason struggled to match his early pace this afternoon, giving the likes of Ben Spies, Andrea Dovizioso and Alvaro Bautista the opportunity to take their turn at the top. Even though Lorenzo came through to stamp his authority at the end it was a good day for the Spanish crowd, with Bautista finishing second and POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider Aleix Espargaró setting the pace amongst the CRT bikes. Espargaró was the fastest rider on the new breed MotoGP machines this afternoon after his team-mate Randy De Puniet had taken that honour this morning. As the early summer heat grew in intensity this afternoon there was frantic work on both sides of the garage as the riders tested a variety of settings and tyres, finishing the day with the Spaniard in thirteenth place and the Frenchman fourteenth, both of them just over 2.5 seconds off Lorenzo’s pace – not a huge gap considering the length of the main straight at this circuit. 13th Aleix Espargaró 1.44.738 (35 laps): “I am very happy to have started the weekend well. It is always as stressful as it is good fun for me here because I have all my family and friends around. We changed a lot of things on the bike from the morning to the afternoon but I have been having fun out there all day. I think we have found the right way forward for the rest of the weekend and it looks like my team-mate has too so it would be nice to see us battling to be the top CRT again in qualifying tomorrow. It is going to be very hot here this weekend and we’ll have to take that into account for the race because tyre choice could be crucial in the later laps.” 14th Randy De Puniet 1.44.771 (34 laps): “We worked with hard tyres on the front and rear this morning and the session went well. In the afternoon we experimented with some different settings and found some good and bad things. I wanted to have another run on a soft tyre to get an idea of our potential and also make some back to back comparisons between the two compounds but we had an engine problem and that cost me the last five laps of the session. I reckon the soft tyre is worth half a second so hopefully we can confirm that tomorrow. It is always a shame to have a mechanical setback like this but it’s better it happens today than Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: STEFAN 8th FASTEST AT SUNLIT MONTEMELÓ CIRCUIT Montmeló, 1st of June: tropical temperatures welcomed the premier class riders at the opening day of the Catalan round at Montmeló surface with Stefan Bradl continuing his progression on the LCR Honda RC213V. The German rider, who recorded his best result in fifth last time out, is looking to not get carried away this weekend but he is aware that every circuit is a new discover aboard his MotoGP machine. Despite the above, Bradl quickly adapted to the physically demanding conditions today recording the 8th fastest lap time overall (1’42.943). Stefan: “It was another good day for us. We have worked a lot in both session on used tyres and it was not easy considering the hot track temperatures. We are in a good shape and we are working for the race.. I mean… eight position in free two is not so bad and in some sections we are on the top but we need to put the things together. We are missing a bit of confidence in the front with hot temperatures but in general everything is working quite well. There’s a quite big difference from the morning temperature to the afternoon’s one so the qualifying session will be tough but extremely important”. More, from a press release issued by Karel Abraham’s publicist: Close Friday sessions in Barcelona: Karel Abraham ended between Stoner and Rossi First day of Grand prix of Catalunya brought very close battle in MotoGP class. Karel Abraham ended on 11th position between World Champion Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi. With the best time 1:43,341 in afternoon session Abaja lost only 1,242 to the fastest Jorge Lorenzo. Czech motorcycle rider did his best time of the day in morning practice session ending in 8th position. Karel Abraham “žI really enjoy the morning practice, but there was really scorcher in the afternoon. Bike is slipping. Slightly in the front, extremely in the rear. We must fight with it. Problem is, that we will ride in particular conditions each day. So we can find some set up for the morning, that won´t work in the afternoon and conversely. Nevertheless this weather is more comfortable that all the unpredictable weekends before this race. So I look forward to the sunny weekend. Marco Grana, chief mechanic Cardion AB Motoracing “žThe morning session was really good, we made eighth time. In the afternoon the track was very hot and many riders had problems. Conditions had changed from the morning and bike was sliding on rear. We tried to change something, we put softer spring but nothing wasn´t satisfying. Our lap time isn´t bad, but we want to get over one minute and forty three. Tomorrow we try to find the grip on the rear wheel and we can be better. Today isn´t negative, we have problems, but we know them and will try to find the solution.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: BRILLIANT START FOR THE PRAMAC RACING TEAM The 2012 Gran Premi de Catalunya kicked off today, under a blazing sunshine that made a change from the recent tricky weather conditions that affected the last three races. With the track temperature higher (around 29 degrees) compared to the morning session, in the afternoon Hèctor was able to significantly improve both the lap time and the position on the timesheet, clocking a best time of 1’42.639 and achieved a brilliant 5th place. During today’s practice session, the Pramac Team worked in particular with the electronic setup of their Ducati GP12, changing few things on the bike in order to give Hèctor more confidence to ride in the best way possible. Tomorrow Hèctor and his crew will fight to catch the highest place possible on the grid, during the qualifying practice session. Hèctor Barberà Rider Pramac Racing Team 5th place in 1’43.624 “I’m very happy with how the day has gone: 5th place and less then 0.5 seconds behind the fastest rider, Jorge Lorenzo. It’s feels like a pole position for me! During the morning session we worked tirelessly to fit our issues with the bike, especially with the electronic setup, and during the second free practice session these changes were confirmed, allowing us to wrap up in this amazing place on the timesheet. Now I have to say thanks again to my guys because they have worked really well one more time and this enabled me to achieve 5th place today”. Francesco Guidotti Pramac Racing Team Manager “I’m proud and satisfied with the work done by my crew. This morning we worked on the setting of our GP12, looking for a compromise between the electronics and chassis of the bike. We found it and we were able to make a big step forward. Hèctor made a great job, taking advantage from the Ducati’s potential and setting two fast lap times, but need to work hard also tomorrow.”