Indy: First blood to Lorenzo in FP1

Jorge Lorenzo was quickest out of the blocks after the summer break to top FP1 ahead of Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso.

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo set a 1’33.654 to top the timesheets during FP1 in glorious sunshine (26.2§C track temp) on Friday morning at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. Times were over two seconds down on Marquez’s pole record (1’31.619) from last year as riders tried to lay some rubber down on the track in an effort to improve grip. Lorenzo showed no rustiness from the summer break as he sent out a message to his rivals, beating Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez into second by 0.093s. The reigning MotoGP World Champion Marquez was impressed by the condition of the track: "Even though the track is more slippery than other circuits, it’s consistent and already improved from the beginning to the end of this session, so it will get better and better as more rubber is laid down and the times will get faster."

Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.217s) completed the provisional front row, ahead of Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa (+0.396s) in fourth and the current championship leader Valentino Rossi (+0.720s) in fifth.

Andrea Iannone (+0.on the second Factory Ducati GP15 was sixth fastest with CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (+0.807s) the leading Satellite rider in seventh, despite suffering from electronic issues towards the end of the session.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) celebrated the news he had re-signed with his team for 2016 by ending the session in eighth, while Avintia Racing’s Mike Di Meglio pulled off the surprise of the morning by claiming ninth as the leading Open class rider. Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales rounded out the top ten, with Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) ending the session in 13th. Local hero Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team) finished down in 18th, just ahead of his teammate Eugene Laverty in 19th, while Stefan Bradl on his debut for the Factory Aprilia team was in 22nd ahead Toni Elias, who is replacing Karel Abraham in the AB Motoracing Team.

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