Lorenzo and Spies to start from front two rows

Article from http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/yamaha+review+Jerez+QP

The reigning MotoGP World Champion had put in his best time of the weekend during the morning’s free practice with a 1’39.682, then worked hard with his crew to find even more grip and feel in his M1 for the afternoon qualifying. The Mallorcan led the qualifying session from the start, dropping to third in the last few minutes and ending the session less than two tenths of a second from pole; one of only three riders to break into the 1’38s. Ben Spies made improvements after a slow start to the weekend. The Texan had been struggling to be comfortable on his Factory Yamaha but qualifying saw the crew deliver a new set up, offering much greater front end feel. Spies moved quickly up the timesheets, however he lost the front end going too hot into a corner, meaning a premature end to qualifying. Therefore, he will start on the second row of the grid.

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
“I pushed the maximum from my first lap and improved my lap time from this morning. We were one of the few to improve with the tougher conditions when the track was worse. When we put the soft tyres in, we managed to make a 1’38.9 lap which is a good time and we were only some milliseconds away from Dani Pedrosa and less than two tenths from Casey Stoner. We are confident for tomorrow and we are pushing for a podium. If the opportunity arises then we will go for a victory.”

Ben Spies, Yamaha Factory Racing
“That’s definitely the best session we’ve had so far. I’ve got to take my hat off to my crew because it has been a hard weekend. Every practice session we’ve had two different bikes while we’ve been searching for the right set up. They’ve been doing an excellent job getting me more comfortable, I wouldn’t say I’m 100% there yet but from Friday, it’s a big improvement. In qualifying I had to do my part and step up to get closer to the front on the grid and it all worked out. It’s definitely a team effort, I asked a lot from the guys and they came through. I had a small crash, one of those crashes where I knew going into the corner that I’d made a mistake and was trying to slow it down, but lost the front.”