MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo Back On Top

MotoGP got back to action today at Le Mans, and everyone got back to chasing Jorge Lorenzo. The Movistar Yamaha rider was fastest in both sessions and the only rider to dip into the 1:32’s. So it was a happier Lorenzo in France after all the struggles at the previous round in Jerez.

“I’m very satisfied with today, because I’ve been quick from the beginning, quite comfortably. This is a good sign,” Lorenzo said. “Normally when you start having problems you also have problems during the race. This time we didn’t have so many problems. We went fast in the morning and even faster in the afternoon.”

Part of that improvement was Michelin’s new tires. They brought three of them to Le Mans, one of which was a popular softer compound and construction.

“Finally we tried the new tire from Michelin,” the reigning champ said. “Michelin is working very hard to give us the best tires, we’re very happy about that. We improved 30 percent of the problems we had in Jerez.”

Perhaps no one was happier with the new tires than Ducati’s Andrea Iannone. The Italian struggled more than any of his factory rider counterparts at Jerez, a combination of his riding style, the Ducati and the surface at Jerez.

“For sure the feeling improved a lot on this track, also with the tires,” Iannone said. “I think this asphalt has more grip than Jerez, this situation helps a lot me and then the bike. But also Michelin work a lot during this week because they arrived with the new tires and these new tires improved a step compared to the old ones. But Jorge [Lorenzo] was very fast today, for sure we try to work tomorrow and close the gap.”

In third was Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez. Although he’s right there, Marquez was not quite so satisfied and looks to improve tomorrow.

“Today was demanding,” Marquez said. “We knew this circuit would cause us to struggle a bit, but we’re overcoming things fairly well. I have a good pace and I’m feeling good, although we’re losing some time on both of this circuit’s hard acceleration points; it’s something that’s difficult to recover from afterwards. Also looks like here Jorge is one step in front of us, so we will try to work tomorrow to be closer.”

Marquez also tried the new tire, but felt that he didn't have enough time on it yet. Also, the two-time champ pointed out that adding new tires to the mix is going to make getting the bike dialed in even more complicated.
"I feel a very small difference but I only did five laps," Marquez said. "I was coming from the hard rear tire that was spinning a little bit more. The soft one, of course, the initial grip is better, but now we need to check the durability and the consistency. But difficult, difficult because during one weekend already the time is tight to work on the set up of the bike, now we must also work on the tires."

In fourth was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro at the team’s home race. Ducati’s other Andrea, Dovizioso was fifth ahead of Pol’s older brother Aleix Espargaro on the Team Suzuzi Ecstar machine. Aleix’ teammate Maverick was just behind in seventh.

The other man on the Repsol Honda, Dani Pedrosa, was eighth and the last ride to be within a second of Lorenzo. Next up was Avintia Ducati’s Hector Barbera and rounding out the top 10 was Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi.

2016 MotoGP Le Mans Day One Combined Results: