Dani Pedrosa led a works Honda 1-2-3 in second practice at Motegi, as the Japanese company targets a first home MotoGP win since 2004.
The Spaniard seized the initiative with 20 minutes to go, becoming the first driver to break the 1m47s barrier before immediately bettering his own mark to set a 1m46.790s, which stood for the remainder of the session.
For a time that put Pedrosa well clear of the field and indeed the previous lap record, a 1m47.091s set by Casey Stoner in 2008.
It was Stoner who came closest to deposing Pedrosa, moving to within 0.054s of his team-mate with four minutes to go.
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That late improvement knocked last year’s polesitter Andrea Dovizioso into third, with the Italian also under lap record pace. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Dovizioso followed with a 1:46.952, with San Carlo Honda Gresini Team’s Marco Simoncelli occupying fourth spot after leading in the early part of the session.
Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) was fifth in the combined time, while Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team), third in FP1, ended the day in sixth. The Press Association
Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) stepped up his pace by a full second, putting the Japanese rider seventh with a time of 1’47.785, two tenths ahead of Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi in eighth. Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) ended the day ninth just 0.02s ahead of Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in tenth.
Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies was the sole rider who did not improve in the outing, the American retired from the session after completing just 5 laps after exhaustion took over him due to fighting an illness the past two days. He checked himself into the medical center and will try to rest enough to participate in tomorrow’s events. motogp
Pos. Num. Rider Team Time 1 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'46.790 2 27 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1'46.844 3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1'46.952 4 58 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'47.188 5 1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1'47.310 6 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1'47.381 7 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'47.785 8 46 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1'47.975 9 8 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1'48.055 10 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'48.076 11 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'48.097 12 14 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1'48.374 13 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'48.379 14 11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1'48.567 15 24 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1'48.743 16 17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1'49.305 17 64 Kousuke AKIYOSHI LCR Honda MotoGP 1'49.464 18 72 Shinichi ITO Honda Racing Team 1'49.673 19 6 Damian CUDLIN Pramac Racing Team 1'51.349
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