Jorge Lorenzo has admitted he has one aim for tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix… to beat championship rival Casey Stoner. The two riders will start together on the front row after Stoner pipped Lorenzo to pole, but with a gap of just 0.120s, the Yamaha number one feels he can take the fight to the Australian.
“Today has been a good day for us. We wanted pole position but the first row is a good start for tomorrow. We have tried some things today and in QP we could almost always be in front. The bike is very good after all the great work of my crew and we have a fast pace. I think we can be competitive tomorrow and try to finish in front of Casey so that’s our aim. The weather conditions are being very tough this weekend, it might even rain tomorrow. The race will be very difficult in all aspects.”
Teammate Ben Spies confirmed Yamaha's competitiveness by qualifying fourth but still felt there was more pace to unlock from the YZR-M1. The American is hoping to make some improvements in tomorrow's warm-up to give him a chance of challenging for the podium.
“It was honestly a lot tougher than expected this afternoon. I wasn't really happy with it. We're trying a lot of stuff with the bike and I don't feel all that bad riding wise, we just don't have the right setting yet and we're not comfortable at a few spots on the track. Some are really good, some are really bad. We had to ride way over the limit to be where we were today. I'm glad we got it done and got on the second row but I'm not happy about how many risks I had to take to get there. The bike's there, we can see it, Jorge's going fast and I feel good, we just have to get my setting comfortable. We've got all night to work on it and see what we can do for tomorrow.”
Team Director Massimo Meregalli feels confident that the riders have the pace to challenge Repsol Honda in the race, but acknowledges that will all be irrelevant if the predicted rain arrives.
“First row is a good starting point for tomorrow, Jorge has a really good pace which is important. We are working to find a better set up for Ben and are still looking for some more grip for the rear. We are going to prepare something to try for tomorrow morning's warm up. The weather for tomorrow is also a big question mark!”