Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa finished today’s first MotoGP practice session at Jerez in a promising fourth place as the weekend’s track action began in preparation for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Spain - the first European race of the 2010 season. Pedrosa’s factory Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished in twelfth place, in a close session where the seventeen MotoGP riders were split by just a little over two seconds.
Riding with the latest chassis updates to his Honda RC212V, Pedrosa made a positive start to the weekend, progressively bringing down his lap times and climbing to within half a second of today’s fastest rider, Casey Stoner, as the one-hour session drew to a close. Jerez is a circuit Pedrosa loves - he won the MotoGP race here in 2008 - and the 24-year-old Spaniard put that pedigree to good use as he and his crew went in search of the handling improvements he’s seeking in order to mount a challenge for victory again in Sunday’s 27-lap race.
After his impressive podium finish at round one of the World Championship in Qatar three weeks ago, Dovizioso made a more steady start to the weekend at a circuit which, in contrast to Pedrosa, is not one of his favourites. Working with his crew to find the right machine balance for the varied nature of the Jerez track, the Italian set a best lap time of 1m 41.277s. Although it was just 1.5s behind the fastest time, this placed Dovizioso in 12th and the 24-year-old will be looking to take a step forward in tomorrow’s two sessions to give him the best chance of qualifying near the front.
The Spanish Grand Prix weekend continues tomorrow with a further hour of free practice in the morning before the qualifying period, which commences at 13.55.
DANI PEDROSA – 4th – 1m 40.200s +0.469s
“Well, it feels great to be riding at Jerez in front of the Spanish fans again and already we can begin to feel the special atmosphere that builds up here. We tried a new chassis today and there is an improvement in some areas which meant we could finish the session not too far from the front. There seemed to be a lack of grip today though and we need to look at the data and work out if the problem is our set-up or just the condition of the track. We haven’t found all the solutions we’re looking for with the new parts on the bike yet, so we need to work hard in tomorrow’s two sessions and try to qualify well. Every race is important of course, but because this is my home race I really want to do well on Sunday.”
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 12th – 1m 41.277s +1.546s
“I knew that the characteristics of this track could increase some of our issues and that’s what happened today. Compared to Sepang and Qatar, Jerez is a slow track and it requires strong braking performance and strong acceleration. We knew that I might struggle a little here but today the practices didn’t go as we expected. From the beginning it was quite hard to find a good feeling and I struggled to improve my lap times through the session. At the moment there’s a fair gap to the first riders and we need to find some improvements in a few areas. We have already had a meeting with the technicians to analyse the data and decide on a plan for the rest of the weekend so I’m confident about making improvements tomorrow.”
TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI - REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
“After the cancellation of last weekend’s race in Japan, it’s a very good feeling for the team to be back in action and the motivation is very high for a good result here. It’s the first race in Europe and this means it’s important for us to build and maintain momentum. Dani has tried a new chassis and achieved some progress with the RC212V today and there is more to come from him and the machine. He is always strong at this circuit and that’s how it has proved today. Andrea has some work to do to find the best set-up, but he too can move forward considerably tomorrow. We must maximise our progress in both sessions to close in on our rivals - we’ll be working hard towards that goal.”
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