Catalunya MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo happy with early speed

MotoGP world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was satisfied with his early speed after topping the timesheets in Catalunya today.

The 23-year-old clocked a best time of 1.43.259 to make the perfect start to his bid for a fifth win of the 2010 campaign.

Preparing for his home race near Barcelona, Lorenzo was in control for most of the session to beat Ducati rival Casey Stoner by 0.153s.

Lorenzo, who holds a comfortable 47-point lead over compatriot and Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, said: “Today was a good practice. We were able to go very fast suddenly.

“Maybe I expected to improve more my lap time at the end, but we couldn’t because the rear tyre was quite old at the end and was sliding a lot, so we couldn’t make 42.

“For tomorrow my target is to ride in the high 42s and I think if we can get this we will be quite prepared.”

A major factor today was the punishing heat as temperatures near Barcelona hit a punishing 37 degrees.

And with track temperatures peaking at an extreme 53 degrees, Lorenzo said managing wheelspin on his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 was a big issue.

He added: “This is the tarmac where we get most spinning from the rear tyre. We don’t have so much grip and the rear tyre is always sliding and spinning.

“But it is the same for everyone and everyone has more or less the same problem. We will work on the rear setting a little bit.

“We must find a setting to bring us more constant lap times because after five laps the grip from the rear tyre drop a little bit.”

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