Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso, on a Honda, was fastest in opening practice for French Grand Prix, but it was high-profile compatriot Valentino Rossi who was planning for victory.
The world champion, who leads this year’s title race after three races, is targeting his 99th career win on Sunday, but after finishing sixth fastest on Friday, the Yamaha man admitted the predicted French rain could make things difficult.
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Dovizioso clocked the day’s best time of 1:36.136 when he made the most of a dry track with Australia’s former world champion Casey Stoner second fastest. AFP
It marked the second time Dovizioso has led a grand prix track session since he joined the premier class last season - the first being the wet Saturday morning practice session at Donington Park 2008.
“I’m happy today because we have started in the right way here at Le Mans,” said Dovi, a podium finisher at Le Mans from 2003-2007 in the lower grand prix classes. “I like this track and I was able to be fast right from the beginning of the session.
“Unfortunately it started raining in the middle of the practice and so we didn’t do many laps - only 16 in total. This meant we couldn’t test so many options on the machine but anyway, we were able to get some useful information and learn that we need to improve the set-up for corner entry.
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“The lap times overall were not very fast today and I think they will come down by around two seconds - so today’s lap time is not indicative for the weekend.
Regarding the race, I’ve had many podium finishes here so my expectations are high, but it’s too early to speculate about results. We just need to keep on working hard - and keep an eye on the weather,” concluded Dovizioso, who has claimed a best finish of fifth this season. Yahoo! Eurosports
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