Lorenzo Continues Dominance – Tops Jerez MotoGP Test

Following this past weekend’s round four of 2015 MotoGP at Jerez, the grid remained at the Spanish circuit Monday for a one-day test.

Leading the way was the man who dominated Sunday’s 27-lap GP at the 2.75-mile circuit, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard, who turned 28 on Monday, earned his 55th Grand Prix victory before his home crowd.

While focusing on the YZR-M1’s setup, Lorenzo completed 52 laps Monday, ending the day with a quickest lap of 1:38.516. His teammate Valentino Rossi – the current points leader who won two of four races so far this season – finished 0.042 of a second behind.

“I’m quite happy after scoring the first victory of the season for me and also because I turned 28 today. I could feel the heartwarming response from so many people. I’m back in the groove and I returned to the podium, so now I hope to keep this momentum going in the coming races like Le Mans, Mugello and Montmeló,” Lorenzo says.

“Today we tested as usual here in Jerez, but we were only focused on different set ups with the bike. We had nothing special to test, but we fixed the basis of the bike for the future. I think we found out how we can take profit of some adjustments, so we are quite confident for the next Grand Prix!”

Rossi, who earned a record 200th GP podium Sunday with third at the Grand Prix of Spain, completed 66 laps as he also focused on YZR-M1 setup.

“This testing day was positive. We didn’t have many things to try, just some small detail of set up. We focused on improving the bike compared to yesterday and I am very happy because we could also improve the time we did in qualifying,” Rossi says.

“I was happy with the podium in Jerez, it was a positive weekend, but we could have done better, so today we focused on the bike’s set-up. We tried some solutions that we couldn’t try during the race weekend. The results of these tests were interesting. In two weeks we will be at Le Mans and we have to do a good weekend. I like the track a lot, but first I need a few days off!”

The top Honda of the test was CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, who followed 0.306 of a second back. Crutchlow, who finished fourth at Jerez and out in 64 laps during the test, worked on new suspension parts and electronics aboard his RC213V.

Fourth-quickest went to Team Suzuki Ecstar Aleix Espargaro, who completed 63 laps and finished 0.382 of a second behind. Espargaro worked on GSX-RR chatter issues, which he experienced in the past three races. Chatter is sometimes an issue of excessive grip, so Suzuki was attempting to see if they could fix the problem at the slippery surfaces.

The reigning MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez finished the day in fifth after only four laps, 0.460 of a second behind, as he worked with a new swingarm on his Repsol Honda RC213V. Marquez, who finished second at Jerez, also continued to nurse his left pinky, which received a titantium plate after the 22-year-old Spaniard broke it last week during a dirt-track training accident.

Sixth went to Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, who trailed Lorenzo 0.831 of a second. The Brit completed 41 laps, and finished 0.3 of a second ahead of teammate Pol Espargaro.

A number of the Open class teams made use of the extra track time to work on the setup of their Magneti Marelli electronics package, while Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera had some new parts to test to effectively turn his Open GP14 into the 14.1 his teammate Danilo Petrucci rides, MotoGP reports.

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini debuted their full seamless shift gearbox at the test with Alvaro Bautista, while Marco Melandri had a new swingarm and chassis to test. Bautista made dramatic progress to end the day in 11th 1.2 seconds behind Lorenzo, while Melandri finished last in 22nd, MotoGP reports.

2015 Jerez MotoGP Test Results:

2015 Jerez MotoGP Test Photo Gallery: