Movistar Factory Yamaha's Lorenzo & Rossi Qualify in Top-10 at MotoGP Season-Opener in Qatar

	Grand Prix of Qatar Lorenzo Takes Fifth in Tense Qatar Qualifying 21:00 Local time GMT+3 Night Clear Air 21°C Track 18°C Humidity 50%
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	Losail Circuit (Qatar), 22nd March 2014 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo fought hard this evening to take fifth on the grid in qualifying for tomorrow’s Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar. Teammate Valentino Rossi made big time improvements and secured tenth under the floodlights of the Losail circuit in a tense session of quick fire hot laps. Lorenzo had taken another small step forward in the fourth free practice earlier this evening, reducing the gap to the front to under half a second to finish 0.492 from first in seventh position. As usual he was the first man out onto the track for the qualifying heat, scoring a 1’55.036 on his first flying lap. A flurry of quick laps were to follow by his rivals, leaving him in fifth position with just over half the time gone. He returned to the pits for fresh rubber before preparing for the final attack. A frenetic last few minutes saw a huge number of red sections across the track for the top riders, with Lorenzo managing to drop under the 1’55s with a best time of 1’54.661 seconds. The time puts him on the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s race, just 0.154 seconds from pole man Marc Marquez. Teammate Rossi continued to make improvements today, improving both his pace and hot lap time. The Italian’s first qualifying tyre saw him into sixth position with a 1’55.471, only to drop as a flurry of faster rivals pushed him down the table. The nine-time world champion was back out for the last minutes and pushing hard, dropping nearly a half second to record a 1’55.096 second lap on his seventh and final lap. The time puts him in tenth position on the grid but only just over half a second from pole position.
	Jorge Lorenzo 5th / 1'54.661 / 7 laps “We are improving little by little to adapt to the situation. Obviously we are still having problems with the rear grip but we are getting closer to the front top riders. We made a good position for tomorrow; fifth on the grid is good for the start. There are six riders within one tenth of a second and the race will be very long so if we can make one step on the bike we can fight for the podium or even a victory, which would be amazing for the circumstances.” Profile
	Valentino Rossi 10th / 1'55.096 / 7 laps “I’m not very satisfied because I am just in tenth but I am only half a second from pole position and my lap time is not so bad. I have improved a lot. We worked well on the bike and in the end 1’55.0 is not so bad, it’s seven tenths faster than last year for me so we made a good step. The problem is that the balance between everybody is very close; we are 12 riders within half a second. Tomorrow we have to be ready for anything as anything could happen. The pace is very similar between everyone except Marquez who was impressive and did a good job. Also the other guys, Pedrosa and Lorenzo are not very far, so we have to be ready for anything and maybe some strong first laps I think!” Profile
	Massimo Meregalli Team Director “Even if we are not completely satisfied about the setting of the bike we were able to close the gap, especially with Jorge. He was able to get just one and a half tenths from pole position and starting from the second row is not at all bad. It will be more difficult for Vale to start from the fourth row. It will be crucial to have a good start and push for the first two laps to stay as close as possible to the leading riders. We will try to find something else during the night and tomorrow we will check during the warm up. We will have to wait and see what a hot race it could be tomorrow night.”
	Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “A very hot qualifying and very tight. We’re not really unhappy with the result, of course we are still working and looking for more speed but we are vey close: from first to Jorge is less than two tenths of a second. All in all we can be pleased with the things we’ve done. The race is more important than qualifying and second row is not a bad place to start tomorrow.”
	NOTES
	The extended imagery from today's Qualifying session at the Losail Circuit (Qatar) is available on www.yamahamotogp.com.
	QUALIFYING RESULT
	FRONT ROW 1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'54.507 2. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1'54.564 3. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1'54.601 SECOND ROW 4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 1'54.644 5. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'54.661 6. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'54.703 THIRD ROW 7. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'54.871 8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Ducati Team 1'54.888 9. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1'54.986 FOURTH ROW 10. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'55.096 11. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Pramac Racing 1'55.127 12. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1'55.152 FIFTH ROW 13. Nicky Hayden (USA) Drive M7 Aspar 1'55.894 14. Colin Edwards (USA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1'56.042 15. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Drive M7 Aspar 1'56.479 SIXTH ROW 16. Scott Redding (GBR) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1'56.555 17. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1'56.648 18. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 1'56.715 SEVENTH ROW 19. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 1'57.006 20. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Came Iodaracing Project 1'57.513 21. Brok Parkes (AUS) Paul Bird Motorsport 1'57.574 EIGHTH ROW 22. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 1'57.667 23. Michael Laverty (GBR) Paul Bird Motorsport 1'58.254
	CIRCUIT INFORMATION
	Technical Informations Circuit Losail Location Doha, Qatar Length (m) 5380 Width (m) 12 Turns 16 Turns righ 10 Turns left 6 Pole position left Record Lap Time 1'55.153 Rider C.Stoner Bike Ducati Year 2008 Best Lap Time 1'53.927 Rider J.Lorenzo Bike Yamaha Year 2008 2012 Results 1st J.Lorenzo (Yamaha): 42'39.802 2nd V.Rossi ( Yamaha): +5.990 3rd M.Marquez (Honda): +6.201
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