From Yamaha MotoGP:

2012 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo took advantage of the only dry session of the weekend this afternoon to take second for tomorrow’s season finale, the Grand prix of Valencia. The home hero was on suitable form in front of his Spanish crowd, fighting within the top three and looking promising for pole until relegated to second in the last minutes by Championship runner up Dani Pedrosa. Katsuyuki Nakasuga was taking it very carefully this afternoon following yesterday’s FP1 crash, concentrating on bike set up over a hot lap and qualified in 16th position for tomorrow’s race.

The morning’s final free practice session was largely useless again for the riders with a wet but drying track giving them just 10 minutes of proper practice time at the end. As a result Lorenzo finished in sixth place 1.2 seconds from first whilst Nakasuga-san was back in 15th.

Jorge Lorenzo Position : 2nd Time: 1:31.195 Laps: 26

“It seems like it’s going to be very close tomorrow. Dani is very strong here, not only in the dry but also in the wet and it seems it could be wet for the race. I tried my best for pole position with the last rear tyre but I didn’t expect the lap time from Dani. Anyway, second place is good and the important thing is the race. Maybe the story will be different tomorrow.”

Katsuyuki Nakasuga Position : 16th Time: 1'33.979 Laps: 26

“I have been focusing in the practices to get used to the bike again, work on the set up and also to understand the track conditions. My aim tomorrow is to do my best to try and achieve my result of last year and if possible to improve on it.”

Wilco Zeelenberg
Team Manager

“We are quite happy with the qualification, we managed second place and the lap times look like they will make a good battle tomorrow as the boys are pretty close together. I think the riders are enjoying the new tarmac but think everyone is struggling to make the rear tyre last the distance.”

Massimo Meregalli
Team Director

“A good session for Jorge, the bike seems pretty balanced. His lap times are good, unfortunately he couldn’t get pole but his pace is high. Nakasuga-san had some pressure on himself after yesterday’s crash and he didn’t want to make any mistakes. He was fairly happy with the bike set up but unfortunately struggled to deliver a top lap time. The weather looks like it’s going to be wet tomorrow so we’ll see what we can do but the prospects are good.”