Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi kicked off the first of the three overseas triple-header weekend’s with a flying start in the first practices for this Sunday’s Grand Prix of Japan.

Lorenzo remained calm and collected while he focused on staying ahead of his rivals. The Aragón race winner took his time at the start of the morning Free Practice session to warm up the bigger carbon brake disks, which are obligatory this year because of the Twin Ring Motegi circuit’s heavy braking character. Throughout the session the Spaniard was able to gradually improve his times and topped the standings with a 1’45.838 lap in the final minute.

The second 45 minutes session also saw him directly on the pace, posting multiple 1’45 laps to comfortably claim second place. His fastest lap of 1’45.580 was just four-tenths from the leader and leaves him second in the overall times.

Teammate Rossi showed that the heavy crash at Aragón has not slowed him down. Though heavy braking is challenging with his finger injury, the nine-time World Champion decided to ride without anesthetic injections and still managed to be at the top of the time sheets as the morning session began. The Doctor led the standings twice before finishing fifth with a lap of 1’46.184, just 0.346 behind his teammate.

Rossi had a similar session in the afternoon and was able to improve his time to a 1’45.890, less than 0.75 of a second from the top. The result leaves him in fifth place in the combined times ahead of tomorrow’s sessions.

Jorge Lorenzo - 2nd / 1'45.580 / 16 laps

“After the race win in Aragon we knew that here maybe we had a chance to go faster and be more competitive with this normal tyre on the rear. Also we knew that last year we were competitive and had good grip. From the beginning we’ve been on the pace and better than we expected. The bike is working very well, we can improve some small details in the settings, chassis and electronics but in general the pace of the bike is very good so I’m happy.”

Valentino Rossi - 5th / 1'45.890 / 19 laps

“I feel good on the bike and don't have any particular problems. I have some small pain with the finger, especially when I brake there is a little bit of pain but I am optimistic, I can brake in a good way and I’m comfortable, I’m just in a little bit of pain. In general the first day was not so bad, it was good practice and I’m quite satisfied. We still have to work a lot, because we still haven’t found the right balance but fifth position is not so bad. I have a good pace and it looks like the Yamaha works well here in Motegi.”

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

“We are very satisfied with our start today. Both Jorge and Vale have no major issues with set up and have started with good pace and speed. Of course we have some small details as always to work through so I am confident we can make more steps over the weekend to be even more competitive on Sunday. All in all a good start to our proper ‘home’ Grand Prix! It looks like the typhoon won’t arrive until Monday so we might be lucky with the weather also.”

.