Movistar Yamaha Factory Racing Report on 2014 MotoGP Opening Day Activities in Qatar

	Grand Prix of Qatar Movistar Yamaha Riders Fight for Grip in Qatar as MotoGP Begins 18:00 Local time GMT+3 Night Clear Air 23°C Track 23°C Humidity 74%
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	Losail Circuit (Qatar), 20th March 2014 The 2014 MotoGP World Championship finally got underway this evening under the floodlights of the Losail circuit in Qatar. Having launched their new livery just yesterday, the newly named Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders were out feeling their way on the night track for the first time this year. With little rubber down on the circuit and some sand blowing across from the desert, grip issues became the number one problem to solve for both Valentino Rossi and teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Just 15 minutes in the session was red flagged to allow a clean up of some of the debris on track left by rider Jonny Hernandez’s earlier crash. Rossi returned to the track in thirteenth position after the clean up and began to work on his set up, gradually moving up the timesheets, running as high as fifth before dropping two places to seventh behind highest placed factory rider Dani Pedrosa in sixth at the end. In true Lorenzo style, the Mallorcan was one of the first out of the pit lane as the session began, eager to get to work on his set up ahead of this weekend’s opening round of the championship. Unlike the satellite and open class riders who had the fortune to test in Qatar two weeks ago, Lorenzo had no data to go on and struggled to find a way round the lack of grip he encountered on the track. He ended the first practice of the weekend in ninth position, just under 1.5 seconds from the front.
	Valentino Rossi 7th / 1'56.542 / 18 laps “The track is in quite a bad condition but I think it’s quite normal for a first practice. There is a lot of sand and not a lot of rubber down. Also a lot of riders except the factory riders have been here for three days and have done a lot more km and a lot more laps so it’s normal they are stronger than us. Now the work for the weekend will be hard to reduce the gap. I have a lack of grip front and rear, on corner entry and also on acceleration the bike moves very much. I think the condition of the track is getting better and it will get easier.” Profile
	Jorge Lorenzo 9th / 1'56.668 / 15 laps “I’m a little disappointed because hearing the comments of the riders that were here two weeks ago it seemed the tyres were working really well. Having arrived here it seems the track is a little worse, the feeling of the rear tyre is more or less the same as in Sepang, with little grip and traction. We didn’t have three days to test here like the top five so our problems are bigger. We must hope that the tyre gets better and we can improve the grip on the rear.” Profile
	Massimo Meregalli Team Director “Since the beginning we were expecting that some of our competitors could be in front of us because they tested here ten days ago. For sure the condition of the circuit didn't help us either as we couldn’t work properly on the bike because of the lack of grip and the dirt on the track. We have a lot of work to do but I’m optimistic that as the conditions improve we can get our speed back. We know what we have to do as both riders complained about the same issues. Both need more grip front and rear so we will work on this and let’s see what happens next practice.”
	Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “The first practice is done so 2014 has officially started! It’s very obvious that many guys have already been around the track because you can see how fast they are. For us there’s some work to do before the race on Sunday. We are struggling for grip so we need to improve but it looks like we are not the only ones. We have some work to do!”
	FREE PRACTICE NR. 1 - RESULT
	1. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1'55.201 2. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1'55.667 3. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1'55.816 4. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Pramac Racing 1'55.996 5. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1'56.020 6. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'56.332 7. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'56.542 8. Colin Edwards (USA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1'56.626 9. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'56.668 10. Nicky Hayden (USA) Drive M7 Aspar 1'56.670 11. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'56.682 12. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'56.726 13. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Ducati Team 1'57.046 14. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 1'57.100 15. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1'57.623 16. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 1'57.779 17. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Drive M7 Aspar 1'58.182 18. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 1'58.394 19. Scott Redding (GBR) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1'58.495 20. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 1'58.732 21. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Came Iodaracing Project 1'59.321 22. Brok Parkes (AUS) Paul Bird Motorsport 1'59.328 Full 2014 MotoGP Results
	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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