Ben Spies heads to Le Mans determined to shake off a run of mixed results and get his 2012 Championship firmly back on track. A solid sixth last year marks his best result yet at the French track, something he will be looking to improve on this weekend.

The perfect Le Mans set up requires optimum balance and control under repeated hard braking. The challenging circuit requires riders to dispatch several tight chicanes before attacking the short straights and tight hairpins that form the remainder of the track. Le Mans is this year hosting the Grand Prix for the 55th time and is sure to attract a huge crowd of passionate race fans as always.

Ben Spies

“I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike again this week. My confidence has been rebuilding well now we’ve found a good set up that works so I think we can make another step and improve our performance again at Le Mans. It’s not my favourite track but I’m going to give it 100% as always to achieve a good result on Sunday.”

Massimo Meregalli

“Last year was not a perfect weekend for Yamaha at Le Mans, a track where traditionally we have been very strong. This year we arrive with a very competitive package so we are confident that we can perform well. Ben has not had an easy start to the year but has been working hard with the team to have a competitive set up and to rebuild his confidence. I am sure we will see him fighting with the front pack this weekend.”

The Texan made a couple of mistakes and dropped to ninth where he battled Stephan Bradl for eighth, eventually passing the German to take the position at the line. Spies will arrive in Le Mans in 11th position with 18 points.

Ben Spies – Position : 8th

“Very mixed emotions today, this is actually the first time in three years that I’ve finished a race here. As I told the team, I made four or five big mistakes during the race, they cost me time and places. It was a rough race but I’m continuing to build my confidence, I don’t enjoy Estoril so I’m happy to have finished. Now we go to Le Mans which is a great event with an amazing crowd but another track I don’t love so much! I’m happy with the bike and it’s performance so we’ll continue to build my confidence and improve the results.”

Massimo Meregalli – Team Director

“Ben had some difficulties during the race, he made a few mistakes, I think the first one put a lot of pressure on him so he was trying to push harder and was unable to. The most important thing is he got back his feeling and was quite satisfied with the set up which gives us good confidence for the coming races. Tomorrow we will test some new items, let’s hope they give us some good results. Jorge did a really great job and pushed really hard. He never gave Casey room to breathe and he couldn’t do more than that. This is the right attitude to get the title.”

Having finally got his 2012 season firmly back on track with a highly competitive pace, Ben Spies endured an extremely frustrating qualifying session with at least three hot laps interrupted by slower traffic. Having been denied a front row lap time Spies will start tomorrow’s race from fifth on the grid alongside his team mate on the second row.

Ben Spies - 5th

“It was a tough session for everybody, the annoying thing was that three of my best laps were blocked but that’s just the way it goes. Two of them I think could have been avoided but one of them was just a racing incident. We’re on the second row in the middle and we’re a lot better than we were in Jerez. I feel good on the bike and I just need to keep building the confidence now. Being three tenths behind Jorge at this track is pretty good.”

Massimo Meregalli

“We missed the first row but we are pretty close. Traffic compromised at least two or three laps for Ben but overall we are satisfied as we are coming from a really bad weekend. The race will be tough, but we are confident as up to five minutes from the end of qualifying we were really close. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

The Texan was one of the first riders to venture out in the morning session, braving mixed track conditions of wet and dry to test a big set up change. The new direction proved to be confidence inspiring, Spies topping the morning timesheets and remaining highly competitive in the afternoon, leading for a while and eventually finishing in second place, 0.321 seconds behind Casey Stoner.

Ben Spies - 2nd

“It’s a good feeling today but it’s still early, it’s Friday. The most important thing is I have to thank my crew, they made a huge change to the bike, not only to the front but we also changed some rider position settings that I asked for and the bike seems good. Not only are the lap times fast, it’s much easier to ride at that speed than the slower times at Jerez. Right now the bike is quick and easy to ride, we need to make some more improvements to it. To be in the top three on the first day after two difficult weekends is a positive start.”

Massimo Meregalli

“Definitely a promising start today, the new set up is giving Ben the right confidence so now it’s a matter of some little adjustments but he is up there which is the most important thing. Jorge missed the morning session due to the bad conditions; I think tomorrow he will be where he should be. A good starting day, let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

Ben Spies arrives in Portugal determined to get his 2012 Championship back on track after a frustrating start to the season.

The Texan has yet to complete a MotoGP race at the Estoril circuit having suffered misfortune in both 2010 and 2011.

The Autodromo Fernanda Pires de Silva sits just seven kilometres from the Atlantic coast and as such is notorious for dramatic weather changes; riders can see conditions change in seconds from warm sunshine to high winds and gusts of rain. Estoril provides one of the most challenging circuits for set up, featuring one of the longest straights of the MotoGP calendar combined with the one of the slowest corners. Lorenzo and Spies will need all their rider skills to negotiate the slow twisty sections then hold their nerve for the high speed 200km/hr kink at turn five and the infamous final Parabolica corner leading to the finish line.

Ben Spies

“It’s been a pretty rough start to the season so far, we’re going to Estoril determined to get our championship back on track and get back up there. I’ve been pretty unlucky in Portugal so it’s time to change that and deliver a good result. We will work hard from the first session to find a good set up that works and see what we can do on Sunday.”

Massimo Meregalli

“Ben has had a difficult start to however we know that he is capable of running with the front group. We are working hard to give him the feeling he needs with the bike and we are confident that he will give 100% as always over the sessions and race.”

He took the same result as in Qatar, finishing in 11th to take a further five Championship points, bringing his total to ten and 11th in the standings.

Ben Spies – Position : 11th

“I don’t really know what happened, I got off to a pretty good start from the line but after that I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike, it was a pretty pathetic race really for me. I’ve apologized to the team and we’ve had a long meeting about what I was feeling with the bike. I just wasn’t comfortable, I rode as hard as I could but the speed just wasn’t there. We need to find something because we can see the Yamahas are working well but my feeling with the bike is not great. It was a bad day at the office today.”

Massimo Meregalli – Team Director

“It’s been a very challenging weekend for the whole team… A disappointing race for Ben, we know he tried his hardest but unfortunately he couldn’t find a good feeling with the set up so was unable to fight with the front groups. We will work hard between here and Estoril to see what we can do to improve this for the next race.”

Thanks to some great athletes, great team support and Nick Kiernan for holding them all together.

We all have the same focus, same passion for the sports and teamwork makes it come true. I am grateful for the opportunity

to have been able to make this team and one of my dreams come true. Thank you to all our sponsors. What a great day and know

that each of you are proud to be a part of this moment. Elbowz wins “first” PRO WIN…awesome. Keep peddling!!

Ben

Ben Spies took his YZR-M1 to sixth in qualifying, working hard to deliver the best possible position whilst avoiding falling victim to the constantly changing track conditions. With some corners remaining damp throughout, finding a perfect line proved to be extremely difficult. Having started outside the top ten along with his team mate, Spies climbed as high as third but was unable to keep the front row having used his fastest set of tyres slightly too early in the session.

Ben Spies – 6th

“It was actually a pretty scary session for everybody, the track started out damp and then got better but there were some damp patches right where you wanted to be. It was the first dry session of the weekend for us so we had to ride hard. We had a setting on the bike we hadn’t tested here but thought on paper it would be better, some things were good and some bad. We mistimed the tyres a little bit just because we saw a black cloud coming in so I think we could have been on the front row. I didn’t want to make a mistake though and throw another bike down the track and make the guys rebuild it! We’re pretty much up there, for how bad the conditions were I’m happy to come out unscathed and on the second row.”

Massimo Meregalli

“It was impressive how much Jorge wanted the pole, I think it’s a good signal for tomorrow. Ben had a good feeling for the bike by the end of the practice and put a lot of effort in. We’re quite confident for tomorrow; a lot will depend on the weather forecast. The team has also been working really hard to keep up with the different conditions and keep delivering a competitive bike.”

The majority of the MotoGP riders were forced to sit out the morning session as track conditions which were not fully wet or dry meant no valuable set up data could be assessed. The second session in the afternoon proved equally frustrating, starting wet but gradually drying over the 45 minutes.

Spies concentrated on finding an optimum tyre set up for the first half of the session, making some small set up adjustments in the hunt for optimum performance.

Ben Spies - Position : 9th Time: 1’53.409 Laps: 18

“Today was good, we started with a wet track and we had to fiddle round with some tyre pressures for a while. We got that sorted and made some changes to the bike to the point where I was comfortable. The tyres had got quite bad by that point; the times were dropping so we were slower, but still as consistently fast as everyone out there. I’m looking forward to tomorrow to see what we can do.”

Massimo Meregalli - Team Director

“Unfortunately we didn’t have the perfect weather today. The first session was useless but we worked quite well in the afternoon. We found a balance that Ben liked and he seems quite satisfied with the set up so we’ll see for tomorrow. On Jorge’s side we are still hunting for some more grip from the rear in the difficult condition but we should make a step tomorrow.”