Pedrosa leads Honda 1-2

From motogp.com

Dani Pedrosa was the leading light in the first practice at Misano on Friday as the Repsol Honda rider found an immediate pace that was substantially faster than that of the rest of the MotoGP field.

A best effort of 1:34.772 made Pedrosa the only rider under 1:35 in the hour-long session, and saw him just over six-tenths of a second faster than team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

“It’s been a really good start here in Misano compared to last year and I'm very happy about that,” said the 24-year-old Pedrosa. “We are coming from a strong result at the last race and it's important to keep the momentum going, which we have done so far.

"But we need to remain very concentrated and focused because we still have some areas to improve, and I'm sure our rivals will also go quicker tomorrow.

“Here the grid positions are very important again because the first corner is close to the start and it’s a tight bend. Because of this we need to make sure we have a good pace tomorrow so that we can qualify well, and also so that we are ready for another long and tough race."

Pedrosa occupied the final step on the podium in last year’s race, and this weekend is going for his first back-to-back premier class victories having already achieved a best-ever win tally in a single season in the elite class.

The 24-year-old Dovizioso was pleased with how the hour session went and expects to be able to close the gap on Saturday.

“I’m happy with the work done during this session and I’m satisfied to be second. Six tenths from Dani is quite a big gap but I think we have the opportunity to close this,” he said. “At the end I was able to improve my lap times with the tires I used for the whole session, so I’m confident we can move forward tomorrow.

“I think everyone was struggling for grip today and it was easy to lose the front, but we found a set-up solution that was effective to help with this so we’ll continue working in that direction tomorrow. Tire selection for the race will be very important, and both the harder and softer option Bridgestone tires look like possible choices at the moment.”

The Italian's best time of 1:35.384 was 0.060 secs. ahead of Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo.

Lorenzo was not satisfied with third position as he struggled to find a comfortable set-up on his Fiat Yamaha M1 machine. The Spaniard, who felt the physical demands of the previous round at Indianapolis keenly, lacked a secure feeling on board his prototype in the opening run in San Marino.

"Today was quite difficult for us, more so than we expected,” said Lorenzo, who leads Pedrosa by 68 points in the standings going into this round. “It's not my physical condition, I feel completely recovered from the hard weekend in Indianapolis, but we really struggled today and I didn't have enough confidence in my bike or in the tires.

“We have some small problems in braking, corner speed and acceleration so I don't feel like I can ride how I want to at the moment.”

The Fiat Yamaha rider was just in front of his team-mate and race winner at Misano for the past two years Valentino Rossi, who was the final rider to get within a second of Pedrosa.

The grouped team-mate theme continued with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pair Colin Edwards and Ben Spies in fifth and sixth respectively. Edwards was just under three-tenths behind Rossi, while Spies trailed his fellow American by just under six-hundredths.

Ducati Team duo Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner completed the top eight in the session. Hayden had a minor run off at the very end while Stoner endured a difficult practice, struggling to find a satisfactory level on his GP10, which he hopes will be remedied in Saturday’s second practice ahead of qualifying.

Italians Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), who is set to make his 200th premier class start in Sunday’s race, were both also in the top 10.

Alex de Angelis was on form on his return to Moto2 action on Friday, setting the fastest time in the first practice of his home round, the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. Riding as a substitute for the injured Yusuke Teshima on the JiR Moto2 team De Angelis posted a best lap of 1:40.064 on the Motobi chassis.

Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) followed in the top three, both within three-tenths of a second of De Angelis, with Claudio Corti of the Forward Racing team staking an early claim for prominence.

Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) completed the top five at 0.424 secs. off De Angelis.

MotoGP Practice Times
1. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:34.772
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:35.384
3. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 1:35.444
4. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha 1:35.539
5. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:35.834
6. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:35.892
7. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 1:36.028
8. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 1:36.072
9. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:36.126
10. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 1:36.277
11. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1:36.293
12. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda 1:36.454
13. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:36.533
14. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati 1:36.716
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda 1:37.001
16. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati 1:37.697
17. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 1:37.900