One of the classics of the MotoGP calendar - the Italian Grand Prix - got under way today with the fast and undulating Mugello circuit hosting the first hour of free practice in welcome sunshine. Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso opened their accounts with the fourth and ninth fastest times as they began the meticulous bike set-up process ahead of Sunday’s 23-lap race.
Pedrosa finished the day with a best lap of 1m 50.808s, set quite early in the session on the 11th of the 24 laps he completed this afternoon. Though he was 0.938s behind the fastest time, the 23-year-old Spaniard felt he hadn’t reached either his or his machine’s full potential in today’s single session and remains confident of homing in on his rivals tomorrow.
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Andrea Dovizioso was enjoying the special experience of his first home race as a factory Honda MotoGP rider today. The 23-year-old Italian was quickly reminded of the particular challenges of the spectacular 5.245km (3.259-mile) circuit he likes so much and finished the day in ninth place with a lap time of 1m 51.206s. Using his feedback from today, he and his crew will continue to hone his machine’s set-up in tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions.
Top speed figures from the speed trap at the end of Mugello’s 1.141km (0.709-mile) straight indicated that Pedrosa had today set a spectacular new MotoGP top speed record of 349.3km/h (216.9mph) on board his RC212V. As always happens when a new top speed record is set, the timing equipment will be verified before the figure becomes official.
DANI PEDROSA – 4th - 1m 50.808s “It was good to get a full dry practice session today and I think this is the first complete hour-long session we’ve had because we had interruptions from the weather in Le Mans. The track conditions were very good and the lap times we saw today are already fast. My feeling on the bike was not bad, though we need to work on our braking, corner entry, and direction changes because these are the areas where we’re not so strong. Neither I nor the bike are at our maximum potential yet so, although we’re quite a long way from the fastest riders, I’m confident we can close the gap tomorrow. It’s a very fast straight here, although I didn’t know the top speed was that high until I saw it on the timing screens. Still, top speed is not the most important thing so I’m not really worried about the record - the lap time is more critical.”
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ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 9th - 1m 51.206 “It’s great to be back riding at Mugello because this place is so special. It’s a fascinating racetrack partly because it is so difficult to master - and that’s what we found today. The track is technical and also very demanding physically. You really need to use a lot of energy to get round here quickly and it can be hard to get into the rhythm immediately and find the quickest way through the chicanes. I’m still having some problems with the handling of the bike and I’m struggling to get it turning from side to side in the way I want. So our target for tomorrow morning is to improve the feeling at the front end. We’ve collected some useful information from today’s session so me and the team will be working out ways to improve our package in this area.”
KAZUHIKO YAMANO - REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “We were pleased to make use of the full practice session at Mugello today, though both riders are still reporting some areas where we still have to improve our performance. There’s quite a big time gap to the riders at the top of the timesheets so both crews will be working with the data they collected today to move things forward in tomorrow’s sessions. This is an important race for both riders, and it’s Andrea’s home race, so the team will be working hard as always.”
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