Photography by Gold & Goose
It was a good day for Yamaha MotoGP riders Friday at Aragon, especially defending race winner Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo pushed his MoviStar Yamaha to a time of 1:47.517 to top the charts on Friday. Lorenzo was well out ahead of teammate and world championship leader Valentino Rossi. Rossi went 1:48.200 with just over five minutes left in FP2 at Aragon. Bradley Smith made it Yamaha 1-2-3 as he pushed his Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha to a time of 1:48.318 to round out the top three on Friday.
After crashing out of the San Marino GP Lorenzo arrives at Aragon determined to fight back and reduce Rossi’s advantage heading into the flyaways. The Spaniard has not been off the podium at Aragon in the last four seasons and won last year’s flag-to-flag race despite it traditionally suiting the Hondas.
“Aragon is not a Yamaha track historically from 2010 till last year,” Lorenzo said. “Last year in strange conditions I managed to stay in the dry fighting for the win and then in the wet, I was faster than I could ever remember. I found myself able to win for the first time; usually it’s tougher though. I believe this year with our improvements we can be much more competitive.”
Aragon is one of only two tracks on the current calendar, along with Austin, where Rossi has not won before: “This track for me is difficult in the past, but in the last years we’re coming better. I got a podium in 2013 but it was special, as Dani crashed and I was far from Jorge and Marc. I think last year I could have done a good race; I was fast on Sunday but maybe too fast as I did a mistake in braking with Dani and I crashed. I don’t know my potential for the rest of the race. It’s a difficult track but very good, it’s so exciting when you ride so I need to find the right speed.”
Marquez trails Rossi by 63 points in the standings but is on a run of form that has seen him win 3 of the last five races. The reigning MotoGP World Champion won at Aragon in 2013 from pole, but crashed out of last year’s race while in the lead: “Misano was good and we did the right strategy. But you know, maybe here will be the same and I’ll do the wrong choices. It was an important win for me but here we’ll see as Yamaha have done five days of testing so they will be strong from the start, especially Jorge. But yeah, we will try to push from the start and stay fighting for the win. The podium is the target again and if we can win we will try.”
In the last round at Misano Smith returned to the podium for the first time since Phillip Island in 2014. The British rider leads the satellite standings by 42 points, and finished fifth in last year’s race: “Misano was a fantastic result for me and the team. Like I said there, it makes it more special because for satellite riders there haven’t been so many podiums. If you look at the numbers, I think Cal had a podium in Argentina and Danilo in Silverstone; it’s tough for us guys to be up there on the podium. It’s nice when it does happen and it’s given me more points to fight for fifth in the championship. I didn’t expect to be in this position, after nine or ten races realistic I was just trying to hold onto the top satellite bike but after another five we’re still battling in there so let’s see what we can do in the final five.”
American Nicky Hayden qualified 22nd on the Aspar Honda. Hayden is riding with a broken right thumb suffered while training in Italy.
“Unfortunately it’s the right thumb,” Hayden explained “which is always a little bit worse, but I have been doing a lot of therapy in the last days and I definitely feel a bit better. We weren’t having an easy season as it is and this won’t make it easier but injuries are as much a part of this game as finding a set-up for your bike! Hopefully we can go there and still have a positive weekend.”
MotoGP FP2 Results from Motorland Aragon, Friday, Sept. 25, 2015
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 333.1 1’47.517
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 332.6 1’48.200 0.683 / 0.683
3 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 334.0 1’48.318 0.801 / 0.118
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 337.8 1’48.358 0.841 / 0.040
5 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 337.2 1’48.401 0.884 / 0.043
6 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 340.3 1’48.445 0.928 / 0.044
7 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 329.8 1’48.524 1.007 / 0.079
8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 340.2 1’48.575 1.058 / 0.051
9 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 341.9 1’48.615 1.098 / 0.040
10 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 336.6 1’48.829 1.312 / 0.214
11 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 336.6 1’48.955 1.438 / 0.126
12 45 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 331.0 1’49.007 1.490 / 0.052
13 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 336.3 1’49.064 1.547 / 0.057
14 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 336.6 1’49.225 1.708 / 0.161
15 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 328.7 1’49.576 2.059 / 0.351
16 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 329.9 1’49.680 2.163 / 0.104
17 76 Loris BAZ FRA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 323.9 1’49.700 2.183 / 0.020
18 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 330.8 1’49.769 2.252 / 0.069
19 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 327.0 1’49.980 2.463 / 0.211
20 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 334.5 1’50.039 2.522 / 0.059
21 43 Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 326.7 1’50.157 2.640 / 0.118
22 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 324.9 1’50.462 2.945 / 0.305
23 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 321.1 1’50.719 3.202 / 0.257
24 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 333.1 1’51.162 3.645 / 0.443
25 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE AB Motoracing Honda 323.1 1’51.638 4.121 / 0.476
