Zoom Jorge Lorenzo

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo will become the youngest rider ever to pass the 100 Grand Prix milestone tomorrow when he starts the Italian Grand Prix from seventh on the grid.

It is the 21-year-old's lowest qualifying position so far since his MotoGP debut but, with four podiums already under his belt and an impressive passing record in the last two races especially, he will be looking forward to making his way through the field tomorrow to challenge at the front.

The hoped-for dry session this morning did not materialise as more rain early on meant the track was still damp for first practice and Lorenzo struggled in the conditions, finishing 14th. This afternoon the sun finally came out and the Mallorcan and his crew worked hard to iron out the issues they were having with the M1, making some improvement but not enough to allow them to challenge for the top qualifying spots.

They will now aim to make the most of tomorrow's short warm-up session to finalise their choice of Michelin race tyre and make some last-minute adjustments to put them in better shape for the race.

Lorenzo's team-mate Valentino Rossi took an impressive 50th career pole and will be bidding for a seventh straight victory and a ninth in total at his home track when the race gets underway at 1400 local time tomorrow.

Jorge Lorenzo
“Of course I'm not happy with seventh because I always want to be at the front, it's my worst position so far with Yamaha in MotoGP and I'm especially disappointed because I really like this track and I love the Italian fans, but now we just have to look forward to a good race! I still lack some power in my ankles but honestly I can't blame my injuries this time, today it was a case of lacking time to find the right dry set-up and of me not riding as well as I might have done. We need to work on the front especially because at the moment we are wheelying too much and we don't have enough stability in the bumpy areas, but I have confidence in my team and in Yamaha and I know we will be able to improve for tomorrow. Anyway, we know our bike is working well here because Valentino is on pole! Tomorrow morning we will decide on the race tyre, together with Michelin, and then I will try to get a good start and pass as many people as possible.”

Daniele Romagnoli
“Today was a bit more difficult than we've been used to and we have some small problems, specifically with wheelies making the bike a little bit difficult to control and also in the bumpy areas where we need to work on the suspension to make the bike more stable and less nervous. Now our engineers are studying the data and we will find a good solution for tomorrow. Jorge has shown in the last two races how well he can pass people so we're still looking forward to a great race tomorrow.”

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