Lorenzo the fastest in the MotoGP FP3 at Laguna Seca

As soon as the third free practice session of the MotoGP at Laguna Seca concluded, we were left with a strange feeling, just as strange as the session itself. Rather poor track conditions meant that it was only in the last few minutes that the vast majority of riders decided to head out onto the track to test.

It is typical at the Laguna Seca circuit for the day to dawn with a damp, cold fog. What is not so typical is that, by the time the bikes have to go out to train, this weather phenomenon is still persisting, and it has conditioned the entire session.

The fastest was Jorge Lorenzo, who, as the training sessions drew to a close, set a time of 1:21.445, which is not far off the best times set so far. In fact, he is only 23 thousandths of a second off his FP2 time.

Second was Ben Spies – 1:22.268. In the weekend in which he has dropped the bombshell of his farewell to Yamaha, he does not want to waste the opportunity to do well in front of his home crowd. Moreover, with plenty of tension released following his announcement, he will surely be able to free his mind, which should allow him to ride to have fun.

Another American finished third, Nicky Hayden – 1:22.688, who is also gaining attention in the championship, and not only for being an American on home soil, but also because of his more than likely renewal with Ducati, which suggests that Rossi is more out than in.

It is worth noting that neither Dani Pedrosa nor Casey Stoner decided to go out in this session because of the weather. Dani knows he has pace here, and going out to take a risk today would have been foolish. On the other hand, Stoner still needs to improve in order to match his teammate’s pace on the Honda HRC.

As for the CRTs, the two ARTs of the Power Electronics team (Aspar Team) were again the fastest, with Randy De Puniet ahead of Aleix Espargaró, though both were very close. Moreover, in this session, as has happened throughout the weekend, they are positioning themselves ahead of the Ducati MotoGPs of Karel and Toni Elías.

The only ones who rode consistently were Iván Silva and Rapp. Silva wanted to make the most of the session from start to finish, at a circuit he is enjoying a great deal and from which he wants to take away a good impression, as it is his first time here. He also wants to take advantage of every moment available to get familiar with the track. It is a pity that at the end of the session he suffered a crash on entry to the sacacorchos sand trap. The fall was caused by braking too late; the rear tyre lifted off the asphalt and he lost the chance to make the corner.

Impressive the debut of Steve Rapp, who, despite not being in the times that would qualify him for the race, is riding very fast. Running the same engine as Iván Silva, it seems the Attack Performance preparation has something the Avintia Blusens team does not have, and you can see how well it goes in the fast sections. We must also credit the fact that his rider knows this circuit perfectly, and of course that helps.

We will now see what happens in qualifying, within just under three hours. The times will surely change, the humidity will drop from the 100% recorded in this session, and the ambient temperature of just 12º will rise considerably as time passes and be much higher.