Jorge Lorenzo took the first pole position of the 2013 season in the exciting new 15-minute qualifying format.
The reigning World Champion on led only the first free practice during this long weekend that started on Thursday, working more on race pace that posting flashy headline grabbing hot laps, but when the ‘martillo’ came down he was more than two tenths of second faster than Cal Crutchlow.
“I’m really happy, for three or four laps we pushed to the limit.
I knew Cal was really fast over one lap so I had to push to the maximum.
I’m very happy with this pole position.
The important thing is that the Yamaha works here at this track.
I think for the first time of the new qualifying format it has been very positive and for the fans it is very good to watch.
For the riders you are a little more nervous and you have less time to make a fast lap.
I knew I was competitive but the ten minutes before the qualifying we had some problems with the set up of the bike so it was more difficult to make the time.
We had to change to yesterday’s setting.
The important thing is to make a good start tomorrow.
The last simulations I made were better than yesterday so I’m quite confident for the start.
If there are problems in the first laps we have to be patient and wait for the middle of the race,” said Lorenzo.
Qualifying for Valentino Rossi was a very rude wake-up call, as he will start on the third row from seventh.
The Italian completely botched his qualifying strategy and timing – which has never really been his strong suit.
Instead of posting a fast lap threw away one of his tires because everyone was sort oflingering waiting for someone to start and then try to hitch a tow (Rossi mentioned Pedrosa, Marquez and Bautista).
Rossi also said he would not have been able to beat either his team mate or Crutchlow in qualifying, as he still doesn’t have that 110% confidence that’s needed to push to the limit immediately on a fresh tire.
“The qualifying was not fantastic for us, especially as we lost the second row,” said Rossi.
“Our performance during free practice was better than this, we’ll wait for tomorrow.
Unfortunately in the qualifying session with the second tyre where we had to improve I was stuck in traffic so I could not improve my lap time and I lost some positions.
For sure tomorrow it becomes more difficult to start from further behind but we have a good pace so we can be quite competitive.
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