MotoGP - Electricity Steals the Show in Aragon

The opening day of the Grand Prix of Aragon was brought to an abrupt end this afternoon as a power failure in the local sub-station cut all electricity to the track. As a result there will be no second free practice, instead an extended third session tomorrow morning will compensate. Despite the shortened day reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo wrapped up in good form, finishing second fastest, 0.449 seconds behind Dani Pedrosa in first. Team mate Ben Spies was also quick to find a good direction for his YZR-M1. The Texan rose to third whilst using the softer tyres, only dropping in the time sheets to 11th as the rest of the field switched to faster rubber. The results leave the team optimistic for a strong performance from both riders tomorrow.

Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow experienced a disrupted start to preparations for this weekend's Motorland Aragon MotoGP race after a major power outage ended in the cancellation of today's second practice session.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team pair were eager to get back on track after a positive and productive 45-minute opening practice when the disruption started minutes before the pitlane was due to open to commence this afternoon's session.

Power was restored and the session was due to finally get underway over two hours later than scheduled at 420pm local time. But just as Edwards and Crutchlow got back into their leathers, the electricity supply failed again a nd organisers were left with little option but to postpone practice.

Jorge Lorenzo

Position 2nd - Time 1.50.730 - Laps 16
“This morning we started in a good direction, finishing second just four tenths slower than Dani who was top. It’s too early to make too many conclusions because the track is too dirty so tomorrow will be the real day to see who is fastest. We are very disappointed to not be able to make the second start, we have so many things we wanted to try but at least we have an extra half an hour tomorrow to take profit from.”

Ben Spies

Position 11th - Time 1.51.911 - Laps 17
“This morning was actually quite a good session for us; we were up to third position and then we opted not to change tyres and work on the set up. It seems everyone else tried the harder tyre in the end which worked a lot better so we’re looking forward to using that. We picked which set up we are going to move forward on so the end result of the session was definitely not what the bike is capable of. Tomorrow should be good. I’m annoyed about this afternoon, it’s no one persons fault but it’s frustrating.”