Dani Pedrosa clearly dominated this first day of free training before the Japanese GP. The Repsol Honda Team rider set the best time in the morning session, beating the championship leader Casey Stoner, who was second, by a little over two tenths of a second. In the afternoon Pedrosa was once again the fastest, this time ahead of the Frenchman De Puniet, and by over three tenths.
After the good performance of the Repsol rider in the recent Portuguese GP, where he finished second behind Rossi, today Pedrosa demonstrated that the improvements made to the Honda RC212V are starting to bear fruit. A perfect day for Pedrosa, who in addition to being the fastest, officially announced that he has extended his contract with Honda and the Repsol Honda Team for two more seasons.
Nicky Hayden was not so competitive today although he is working with his team to find the best set up for the race on Sunday. Hayden was seventh in the morning session and ninth in the second free training session.
In 250cc, it was a positive first day for the Repsol Honda Team riders Julián Simón and the local Shuhei Aoyama. Simón`s and Aoyama`s Hondas were more competitive than at other circuits, Motegi demands strong braking and then aceleration when the bike is almost stationary, and that meant that they set times that give rise to optimism. In the morning Simón was sixth and Aoyama tenth. In the afternoon, in the first timed session, Simón set the seventh best time and Aoyama eighth, this put the two provisionally on the second row of the grid.
There was also a good start for the young riders in the Repsol Honda 125cc Team on the first day of free training before the Japanese GP.
In the morning session Bradley Smith set the 11th best time and his teammate Esteve Rabat was 16th. In the afternoon the young Briton was in the leading ten during the whole session, and finished 7th nine tenths behind the best lap time, set by the Italian Pasini. Esteve Rabat also improved his times in the afternoon and his final position was 11th.
