Yamaha sees Britain as a big chance

Jorge Lorenzo took a comfortable victory for the team in Britain last season. He still leads the MotoGP standings by seven points over Casey Stoner, but the Honda rider has the greater momentum after winning the last two races.

However Yamaha team manager Wilco Zeelenberg thinks Silverstone provides a big chance for his squad to regain the initiative.

"We're very happy to be going to Silverstone; we had a fantastic result there last year," he said. "I think it will be one of the tracks where will be more competitive than we have been.

"We are still leading the championship by seven points but we need to do something better to stay there at the front. Of course the podium is our first target but also a win is sometimes very important, for the riders especially, so let's see what happens this weekend."

Team director Massimo Meregalli agreed that Britain could suit Yamaha well and that the squad was heading to Silverstone more confident than it had been of late.

"Silverstone seems to be a good circuit for Yamaha, we're going there with very high expectations and good morale after the double podium at Catalunya," he said.

"We intend to start the right way on Friday and see what we can achieve. Both Jorge and Ben [Spies] have a good history there so I think we will be very competitive."