Round fourteen of the MotoGP World Championship takes place in Aragon, Spain this weekend with Factory Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo coming into the round 38 points ahead of Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.
With five races remaining, the 2010 World Champion is cautious not to get carried away, “There are five more races until the end and 125 points to take, and yes, the situation is much better than before Misano. But there is still a lot of pressure, so we have to be concentrated in every practice and every session. For me it’s not very comfortable [thinking about points]; I don’t like to think about the points and mathematics. I like to go fast.” When asked about the Aragon circuit, Lorenzo continued, “It’s quite new [the circuit], so we don’t have a lot of information like we do at other tracks. [The test] was a big help, for getting the right setting for the bike.”
It was Lorenzo’s teammate, Ben Spies, who capitized on wet conditions during Friday afternoon practice today to set the quickest lap time, ahead of championship contenders Lorenzo and Pedrosa. Following a nearly wasted morning session due to the wet conditions, riders contended with more rain during the afternoon free practice session, where Spies was quickest with a time of just over two minutes, edging out Dani Pedrosa (2nd) and Jorge Lorenzo (3rd).
Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden finished the day fourth fastest, while Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso was fifth quickest and led the satellite machines, over a second off Spies’ best time.
LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl ended the day in sixth, after looking strong all session on his RC213V machine. Seventh place went to Dovizioso’s teammate Cal Crutchlow, who had his fastest time cancelled at the end due to cutting the track. In eighth, Ducati’s Valentino Rossi couldn’t capitalise on his prowess in the wet, seemingly not finding a setting he looked comfortable with. He finished ahead of Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham in ninth, who will be pleased at having finished narrowly behind his factory counterpart.
The top ten was completed by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, with the Spaniard hoping to try out some new Showa suspension before qualifying tomorrow. Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet put in a solid performance to finish as top CRT machine in 12th, ahead of his teammate Aleix Espargaró. Turn 1 turned out to be a tricky spot for many of the riders, with numerous running off at the end of the straight as they pushed to improve their lap times.
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