Pedrosa heads home early

From motogp.com

At the end of the second of three scheduled test days in Malaysia Dani Pedrosa has decided to return to Barcelona earlier than originally planned, as he continues to recover from a knee injury which he picked up at the end of last year.

The Spanish rider hurt his left knee when he crashed at last year’s Phillip Island GP and had a small operation on the joint in December in order to eliminate any ongoing problem – but the injury is still bothering him.

Pedrosa explained, “Tomorrow (Saturday) a race simulation was scheduled but at the end we decided to end the test session because today I could only do five or six laps in a row and tomorrow I won’t be able to cover the race distance.

"Last December I underwent an operation on my left knee due to the injuries I suffered when I slid off in Phillip Island during the race in October. I just need some rest now.”

Having finished fourth on the Friday timesheet, just 0.377 secs. off Casey Stoner’s pace-setting best time, Pedrosa reflected on his 51 lap practice session, stating, “I’m satisfied with the work we have done. We focused on chassis and suspension and also worked with tires in order to find the best solution with our machine. Today (Friday) I was much more comfortable on the bike, I was able to go faster from the early laps and we were able to test all the items we had planned for this session.

“In fact I know this bike, which is an evolution of last year’s bike, and this gives me an advantage compared to last year, when the bike was completely new for me. We have pointed out the aspects we want to improve for next time.”

Pedrosa will be expected back on track at the next MotoGP test in Qatar which takes place on March 1-3.