Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi was inside the top ten on Day 1 of the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, taking P9 by the end of action - but the rider from Tavullia had expected a little better.

Regardless, the pack are close and the Yamaha team didn't test at the venue in May - leaving the 'Doctor' ready to work hard to keep his position in the top ten on Saturday.

"For us it was a problem, because we didn‘t come here for the test. This means we need all the minutes of the practice sessions because we have a lot of work to do, but in the end the only real practice was this afternoon." Said the Doctor

"Sincerely, this afternoon was nothing fantastic, but anyway my pace with the race tyre at the beginning was not so bad and we made some small modifications."

"There are a lot of riders with good pace. At the end, whilst riding on the soft tyre, I thought I could do better, arrive in a better position and also improve the setting of the bike, but at the end I‘m just 9th." He added

"I expected to do better, but it‘s also true that I‘m not far behind. It will be a very tight fight, especially tomorrow the main target is to try to stay inside the top10, that will be very important. We need to work because we need to improve and after we need to try the tyres."

Source: MotoGP.com

Yamaha Tech 3 Jones Folger had some impressive pace on Day 1 of the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, and the German rookie flew to P3 on the combined timesheets.

Back up to strength following a crash ahead of race day in Mugello that left the Tech 3 rider on the back foot, Folger also did a long run on medium tyres, with positive results.

"It was a really strong first day and I am very pleased with how things developed. To be honest, it obviously took some time to adapt and understand the new chicane and it felt a bit strange to ride through that section of the track instead of the previous one." Said the rookie

"However, we tried a lot of different things today in order to find an immediate direction for the setup of the bike, and now I can say that it was a good choice to do this and we have a clear way. Also, we completed a lot of laps on the medium tyre and in the end we ran the total race distance on one set. Then, I went out on soft tyres and we made a big step forward."

"It was a very good day for us and we improved every time that I left the pit box, so I hope that we can continue in this positive way tomorrow."

Source: MotoGP.com

Jorge Lorenzo was on the podium last time MotoGP raced on Spanish soil, and the five-time World Champion also impressed on Friday at the Catalan GP.

Ending the day in second on combined timesheets after a dry FP2, Lorenzo also showed good pace in a wet FP1 and is ready to rumble at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.