Smith a conclu la première journée du Monster Energy Grand Prix de France sur une chute après avoir signé le meilleur temps.
Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) est parvenu à se hisser au sommet de la feuille de temps des essais libres de la catégorie MotoGP™ au Mans en utilisant le plus tendre des deux pneus proposés aux pilotes Factory. Le Britannique a tourné en 1’33.179 pour devancer Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha Tech3), qui roulait sur un pneu plus dur, de 0.190s, mais a fini sa séance sur une chute, à l’instar de son coéquipier Pol Espargaró ainsi que du frère aîné de ce dernier, Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar).
Auteur du meilleur temps le matin, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) demeurait dans le Top 3, à 0.374s de Smith, tandis que Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda), Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) et Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) complétaient le Top 6.
De retour de blessure après une lourde opération de l’avant-bras droit réalisée juste après la première course de l’année, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) a obtenu des chronos encourageants et a fini la deuxième séance d’essais en septième position, à 39 millièmes de seconde de Rossi.
The British rider puts in the best time of the day during MotoGP™ Free Practice.
The surprise of the day at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France came from Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who in FP2 was the fastest of the day with a 1'34.179 lap.
While all the riders improved on their morning times in FP2, Smith seemed to be inspired - either by the fact that it was the home race for his French team, or by the equally impressive performance of his compatriot Danny Kent in Moto3™.
British fans have dreamed of a day dominated by Brit riders and this was the closest we have come in a while, only missing Sam Lowes at the top of the time sheets in Moto2™.
After a great weekend in Jerez, Jorge Lorenzo achieved the second best time after a consistently fast session, with Andrea Dovizioso third. The Italian had been first in FP1, perhaps trying to set the stage for Ducati victory at Le Mans - something that has never happened before.
Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda) was fourth in both sessions of the day, while in fifth position on the combined times list was MotoGP World Champion Marc Márquez, who spent the morning trying different solutions such as the swingarm which premiered at the recent test at Jerez. At the beginning of the session he suffered an electrical problem that forced him to walk back to the pits.
The current championship leader Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), ended in sixth place, only one place above the newly-returned Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), who makes a comeback this weekend after his arm pump problems forced a temporary withdrawal since the first race of the year in Qatar.
Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and his brother Aleix (Team Suzuki Ecstar) ended the day together, in eighth and ninth positions respectively. Pol had a great weekend at Le Mans last year as a rookie, finishing the race in fourth. That combined with the fact that his team mate Smith was fastest today and that this is the local race for his team, means it would not be shocking to see Pol put on a good show on Sunday.
Pol’s brother Aleix was experimenting with different tyre compounds on his GSX-RR during Free Practice. He ended the day ninth and continues the difficult task of racing an all-new machine, testing and setting up his bike for the first time for almost every circuit in the 2015 season.
The second official Ducati Team rider, Andrea Iannone, finished in a creditable eleventh. The rider returned to action this week after dislocating his left shoulder on a scheduled test at Mugello.
Rossi : « Je ne suis pas assez rapide »
L’Italien a fini la première journée du Monster Energy Grand Prix de France à la sixième place.
Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a dû attendre la fin de la seconde séance d’essais de vendredi au Mans pour trouver son rythme et boucler plusieurs tours sous les 1’34 tout en remontant à la sixième place.
Valentino Rossi :
« Nous avons travaillé avec les pneus et obtenu de bonnes informations. La séance du matin a été plus difficile mais nous avons progressé l’après-midi. J’ai pu faire un bon tour à la fin et mon rythme était assez bon. Nous devons travailler sur le premier et le troisième secteurs, je ne suis pas assez rapide mais le feeling sur la moto n’est pas mauvais et je crois que nous pourrons progresser si nous travaillons bien. J’ai essayé les deux pneus et j’ai aussi aimé le pneu dur. Je pense que ça peut être une bonne option pour la course mais ça dépendra des températures et des conditions de piste. »
Valentino Rossi worked hard on his bike settings and finished the day in sixth place.
The nine-time World Champion found his rhythm at the end of the session, where he was riding laps under the 1‘34 mark and climbed to sixth place in the order.
Rossi: "We worked with the tyres and got some good information. The morning session was more difficult but in the afternoon we improved. At the end, I rode a good lap time and also my pace is quite good. We have to work on section one and three, I‘m not fast enough, but the feeling with the bike is not so bad and it looks like we can improve, if we work in a good way. I tried both tyres and I also liked the harder one. I think it can be a good option for the race, but it will depend on the temperature and conditions."
Lorenzo : « Nous n’avons pas encore le meilleur set-up »
Le double Champion du Monde MotoGP™ s’est maintenu dans le Top 3 vendredi au Mans et a fini avec le deuxième temps.
Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) avait mené durant la quasi-totalité de la seconde séance d’essais grâce à un chrono de 1’33.369 réalisé dès le début mais a finalement été devancé par Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3).
Jorge Lorenzo :
« Cette première journée a été positive parce que nous avons fini troisièmes le matin puis deuxièmes l’après-midi, autrement dit à de bonnes positions. Je pense que nous n’avons pas encore le meilleur set-up pour cette piste mais nous avons quand même été compétitifs. Je pense que nous avons de la marge pour demain, notamment pour gagner en vitesse. Nous essayons différents réglages pour voir lesquels iront le mieux. Il sera important de régler la moto correctement et de ne pas trop perdre en rythme durant la course. »
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Jorge Lorenzo was on the pace today, leading most of the second free practice session to ultimately finish 2nd.
The Spaniard only took a couple of minutes to top the timesheets with a hot lap of 1‘33.369 and led most of the session, only to get pushed to second place in the final stages.
Lorenzo: "The first day was good because we finished third in the morning and second in the afternoon, these are good positions. I think we don‘t have the best set-up yet for this track, but we‘ve still been competitive. I believe we have some margin for tomorrow, especially to improve the pace. We are still trying different settings to see which one is better. It will be very important to put the bike together correctly and not drop the pace too much during the race."
Dovi : « Nous devons encore progresser sur la stabilité »
Le pilote du team Ducati s’est classé troisième des essais libres de vendredi au circuit Bugatti.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) avait été le pilote le plus rapide de la première séance d’essais vendredi matin au Mans et s’est à nouveau montré compétitif l’après-midi, lors d’une seconde séance qu’il a terminée avec le troisième temps.
Andrea Dovizioso :
« Je suis très content du feeling que j’ai trouvé ici au Mans avec ma Desmosedici GP15. Le test au Mugello s’est prouvé très utile. Je peux maintenant être rapide assez facilement et cela nous permet de bien travailler, de réaliser les essais nécessaires et de pouvoir progresser sur des petits détails qui seront importants pour la course. Je suis satisfait de nos performances d’aujourd’hui mais nous devons encore progresser sur la stabilité de la moto. »
Andrea Dovizioso’s Le Mans weekend got off to a good start, with the Italian ending the first day of free practice in third place.
The Ducati Team rider was very quick in the morning session, when he topped the timesheets, and then in FP2 he went on to set the third quickest time overall.
Dovizioso: “I am very happy with the feeling I have established with my Desmosedici GP15 here at Le Mans. The test at Mugello proved to be really useful: now I can be quick with ease and this allows us to work well, to do the required testing and to be able to improve on the small details that are so important when it comes to the race. I am satisfied with today’s performance, but for sure we still have to work on improving the stability of the bike”.
Crutchlow: “It’s always tricky here
with the tyre situation"
Cal Crutchlow posts the fourth quickest time during Friday’s free practice sessions ahead of the French Grand Prix.
With the track having dried out following a damp morning, Crutchlow went over a half a second quicker in the afternoon and ended up 0.473 seconds behind compatriot Bradley Smith who topped the timesheets.
Crutchlow: "Today was not a bad day. I was getting familiarised with the circuit as it’s not one of my better circuits. I quite enjoy the circuit, but I’ve just not particularly ridden too well here. We have to look to improve, we’ll go through the data tonight with the CWM LCR Honda guys and work out a plan to do better in tomorrow’s morning and afternoon sessions.
“It’s always tricky here with the tyre situation as we use a used rear tyre in the second free practice and I think we’re on a different plan to the other guys. But it worked quite well as we had race distance on the tyres and I’m quite happy.”
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