Repsol rider dominates first day of practice for Indianapolis Grand Prix, with teammate Casey Stoner fifth.
After just over two weeks of vacation following the US GP at Laguna Seca, the MotoGP premier class riders returned to competition today at another legendary American track. This time around it is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s turn to host the best riders in the world, starting with two practice sessions on Friday. Dani Pedrosa was one of the stars of the show —the only rider to breach the 1’40 mark in the combined classification. He was over three tenths of a second quicker than second placed Ben Spies, seven tenths faster than Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner (in third and fifth, respectively).
The first session saw a highly motivated Dani Pedrosa, as he dominated the run alongside teammate Casey Stoner for the opening 45 minutes. The Repsol Honda Team set the pace right from the start, and in the end it was the Australian who got the quickest lap time. He stopped the clock at 1’41.925 on one of his fourteen times around the IMS circuit. That put him 0.181 seconds faster than Pedrosa, who put in seventeen laps.
After a three hour rest, Pedrosa was back on track and in fine form, leading the way in the second session. He completed another nineteen laps, progressing steadily before clocking a final time of 1’39.783. Only home rider Ben Spies came close to matching him, three tenths down on the Repsol Honda Team rider. Pedrosa was seven tenths ahead of title rivals Lorenzo and Stoner. Reigning MotoGP World Champion Stoner again put in fourteen laps, lowering his best time by over a second (1’40.623).
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP1 – 1:42.106, 17 laps, 72 km.
FP2 – 1:39.783, 19 laps, 80 km.
“This afternoon the track was a little better than in the morning and we were able to improve our lap times quite a lot and also try the hard tyres, which worked much better than the soft specification we tried this morning. As we saw today, the times will keep dropping during the weekend with more rubber on the asphalt, so we have to continue working hard on the bike. We found a good base today to move on from; we can improve every area still, focusing especially on the suspension and electronics and also care about the tyres because it’s very hot out there and the tyres dropped off very quick”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
FP1 – 1:41.925, 14 laps, 59 km.
FP2 – 1:40.623, 14 laps, 59 km.
“This afternoon the track was a little better than in the morning and we were able to improve our lap times quite a lot and also try the hard tyres, which worked much better than the soft specification we tried this morning. As we saw today, the times will keep dropping during the weekend with more rubber on the asphalt, so we have to continue working hard on the bike. We found a good base today to move on from; we can improve every area still, focusing especially on the suspension and electronics and also care about the tyres because it’s very hot out there and the tyres dropped off very quick”.
