Movistar Yamaha's Lorenzo 3rd, Rossi 6th in MotoGP Sepang Qualifying

	Grand Prix of Malaysia   Lorenzo Secures Front Row in Heated Sepang Qualifying 14:35 Local time GMT+8 Sunny Air 35°C Track 56°C Humidity 51%
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	Sepang International Circuit (Sepang, Malaysia), 25th October 2014 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo continued his competitive form of yesterday this afternoon at the hot Sepang International Circuit by taking third on the grid. His teammate, Valentino Rossi, had a challenging qualifying session and will start tomorrow’s Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix from sixth position. Despite the fact that the lengthy track allows little time for multiple hot laps, Lorenzo made sure to leave pitlane last for the 15 minute qualifying heat to be ensured of some clear space. When on his way the Majorcan was fast straight out of the box and posted a 2’00.469 lap to take provisional third. He was unable to improve on his time on his second try and came into the pits for a fresh set of tyres with six minutes left on the clock. Less than three minutes later Lorenzo was back out on the track for one last shot at claiming pole position and immediately posted a 2’00.203 lap, which saw him hold second place briefly, until a late effort by rival Dani Pedrosa relegated him to third. Teammate Rossi had an eventful day at the Malaysian circuit. During the 4th Free Practice session the Doctor was one of several riders to fall victim to a small crashe at the treacherous circuit. Luckily Rossi was uninjured and was back in the pit garage in plenty of time for the 2nd Qualifying session. Similar to his teammate, the nine-time World Champion bided his time at the start of the qualifying session. His first flying lap of 2’01.218 put him in fifth position before being pushed back to sixth by Andrea Dovizioso. After a quick stop at the box, Rossi was back on his way with more than four minutes remaining, allowing the Italian to put in two more laps. He put his head down once more and clocked a 2’00.740 which briefly earned him fifth place before a last minute flurry of activity saw him end the session in sixth.
	Jorge Lorenzo 3rd / 2'00.203 / 6 laps “I am very happy with third place on the grid, because I knew that apart from the factory team some of the other Honda riders like Bradl or Bautista were going to be fast too. In the end I managed to claim the front row. I tried to get the pole position, but compared to Honda we needed just a little more acceleration when exiting the corners. I think we are getting closer in terms of race pace. This is probably one of the worst tracks for Yamaha, but I am very satisfied with the work we’re doing. The bike is very good in all sectors; under braking, corners and acceleration. Tomorrow it will be impossible to ride similar lap times, especially when the tyres start to drop. If you’re able to ride 2’01 laps it will be very good effort for trying to win the race. I would prefer the race to be dry, but if it rains I think we’re ready too.”
	Valentino Rossi 6th / 2'00.740 / 6 laps “We had to try the hard front tyre and it was not so bad, but unfortunately I had some chatter and I crashed. We have to make a decision for tomorrow, because with the medium front tyre we are closer to the limit and we have to ride smoother. Starting from the second row is not so bad considering that we struggled with the setting of the bike yesterday and today. We improved more today compared to yesterday, but we have to take another step for tomorrow. The two Honda’s are very strong and Jorge is also a bit faster than me. If I want to stay with them, I have to improve my setting and my pace. The weather here is impossible to understand. It’s not like Phillip Island where the temperature goes down in the afternoon. It’s now four o’clock and it’s around 38 degrees, but it depends on the rain. We hope it will be a dry race and a little bit cooler than today and we will try.”
	Massimo Meregalli “Today it was extremely hot, which makes it a real challenge for the riders. Jorge did good job to secure a front row start for tomorrow, he has a very good pace and speed and is in a good position for the race. Vale has a good pace but was unable to find the perfect set up for qualifying and crashed with his preferred bike, that made it hard to find a good rhythm. Despite this he was able to secure a second row start, which is important here for the first corners. As there is a real possibility of rain tomorrow we would have liked at least one wet practice today to work further on our wet set up. We’ll continue to work tonight to try a couple more things for warm up tomorrow morning and then we are ready as we can be for race."
	NOTES
	The extended imagery from today's Qualifying session at the Sepang International Circuit (Sepang, Malaysia) is available on www.yamahamotogp.com.
	QUALIFYING RESULT
	FRONT ROW 1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'59.791 2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'59.973 3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2'00.203 SECOND ROW 4. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP 2'00.472 5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 2'00.703 6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2'00.740 THIRD ROW 7. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) NGM Forward Racing 2'00.801 8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Ducati Team 2'01.119 9. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2'01.263 FOURTH ROW 10. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 2'02.294 11. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Drive M7 Aspar 2'10.568 12. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2'01.885 FIFTH ROW 13. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 2'02.184 14. Nicky Hayden (USA) Drive M7 Aspar 2'02.330 15. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 2'02.548 SIXTH ROW 16. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 2'02.682 17. Scott Redding (GBR) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 2'02.874 18. Alex De Angelis (RSM) NGM Forward Racing 2'03.165 SEVENTH ROW 19. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Octo IodaRacing Team 2'03.874 20. Michael Laverty (GBR) Paul Bird Motorsport 2'04.539 21. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 2'04.784 EIGHTH ROW 22. Brok Parkes (AUS) Paul Bird Motorsport 2'05.208 23. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Pramac Racing 2'02.597
	CIRCUIT INFORMATION
	Technical Informations Circuit Sepang Location Sepang, Malaysia Length (m) 5548 Width (m) 25 Turns 15 Turns righ 10 Turns left 5 Pole position left Record Lap Time 2'01.415 Rider M.Marquez Bike Honda Year 2013 Best Lap Time 1'59.791 Rider M.Marquez Bike Honda Year 2014 2013 Results 1st D.Pedrosa (Honda): 40'45"191 2nd M.Marquez (Honda): +2.757 3rd J.Lorenzo (Yamaha): +6.669
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