The Spanish Repsol Honda Team rider second, just two tenths from the pole. His teammate Andrea Dovizioso, eighth, will start on the third row tomorrow
The high temperatures, a little lower than yesterday`s, put the riders and mechanics once again to the test at Misano today, on the second and definitive day of practice for the San Marino y la Riviera de Rimini GP. Dani Pedrosa, together with the two Yamaha official riders, were once again the stars in the battle, something that has been happening week after week recently.
Meanwhile the Italian rider in the Repsol Honda Team, has expressed his satisfaction with the pace he has achieved for what is an important date for him. But he could not manage to go as fast as he would have liked with the soft tyre on the Misano track.
Just like yesterday the two practice sessions today had the same three stars, way ahead of the rest of the riders in MotoGP at the moment. Rossi, Lorenzo and the Spanish Repsol Honda Team rider demonstrated that they are the men to beat in this category and they took turns at the top of the classification, in both the morning and afternoon sessions.
Third in the second free session behind Rossi & Lorenzo, Pedrosa improved the set up on his bike for the classification, small adjustments that allowed him in the end to ride almost half a second faster in the afternoon. For Dovizioso the afternoon was not so advantageous, as the Italian was not able to improve on his morning times, and he fell back to 8th position.
During the classification session things went normally until the final 20 minutes. From then on practically all the MotoGP riders were out on the track with the softest tyre made available to them by Bridgestone. The two Repsol Honda Team riders went out at practically the same time, the fastest being Pedrosa, who moved into 2nd position, whilst Dovizioso did not improve and fell to 9th.
After Dani and Andrea stopped in the pits for the second rear tyre they had 7 minutes left. On their second attempt Pedrosa was on pole until a couple of minutes from the end but it was snatched away from him at the very end by the local hero, Valentino Rossi. Andrea Dovizioso, in spite of great efforts with the soft tyre had to make do with 8th position, but is confident that the good pace he has for tomorrow`s race will help him get a good result.
Dani Pedrosa, 1’34.560 secs, 57 laps, 241 km. >> Audio
“It’s great to get a front row start here and we weren’t far away from pole position which is a good result from this afternoon because our rivals are very strong again here. During the session we were working on race set-up and we still have a little way to go to improve my race pace and consistency compared to the others. In qualifying I was able to up my speed towards the end and I was pushing really hard because it’s very important to get on the front row here and give yourself the best chance of a clean getaway. It’s sure to be an exciting race tomorrow and I hope we can find that little bit extra so we can challenge for the win again. It’s likely to be a tough race because it was hot and windy today, but I’m looking forward to it – the atmosphere is sure to be special.”
Andrea Dovizioso, 1’35.492 secs, 61 laps, 258 km. >> Audio
“I have a good pace with race tyres, and we improved the rhythm and reduced the gap to the front riders this afternoon which I’m pleased about. We are six tenths behind with our race pace and quite close to Dani so I was happy about this. Unfortunately I couldn’t go fast enough with the soft tyre and so my starting position is not what I wanted. I’m disappointed about that because it could compromise the race and it means I really have to make a good start and try to recover positions right from the beginning. It won’t be easy as it’s tricky to overtake in the first corners because you have a group of bikes all going through together. But still, I think we’ve been making progress with the set-up and the potential from our package is good.”
