Dani Pedrosa made an ‘awkward’ return from knee and forearm surgery during the opening day of the 2009 racing season, on Friday night in Qatar.
The Repsol Honda star, injured at the same circuit during last month’s test, was unsurprisingly left at the tail of the timesheets - some 4.382sec from Casey Stoner - but was satisfied to have completed 17 laps, including a run of eight consecutive ‘fast’ laps.
“Well, I was able to ride for the whole session tonight and that was the first target for Qatar,” said Honda’s only 800cc race winner. “I didn’t feel so great on the bike to be honest, but I expected this after such a long time without riding. I have to readapt to the speed, the braking points, the demands of riding a MotoGP machine again and this will take some time.
Pedrosa’s new team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was eighth fastest.
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