Repsol rider clocks second fastest time of the day in a pair of sessions hit by rain. Teammate Jonathan Rea places eleventh.
Rain heavily affected the opening day of action at the Aragón GP, resulting in Dani Pedrosa completing just a solitary lap in the morning. He was more active in the second session and was just 66 thousandths of a second off fastest rider Ben Spies. Teammate Jonathan Rea, standing in for Casey Stoner, was eleventh and opted against riding in the morning.
The first practice session for the MotoGP class at MotorLand Aragón was reminiscent of that of Misano two weeks ago. After overnight rain, the track never dried out and did not lend itself to safe riding. The majority of riders decided to stay in their garages, rather than taking needless risks. Just nine riders went out on track, with Nicky Hayden the fastest of those. Dani Pedrosa performed one lap, before noting the lack of grip and sitting out the remainder of the session. Teammate Jonathan Rea did not even attempt a lap in the first session of his second MotoGP race weekend.
Rain began to fall more consistently in the lead-up to the second session and the track was left completely wet —and thus all riders decided to begin work. Dani Pedrosa was continuously up at the sharp end and led the way for most of the 45 minutes. He undertook 16 laps and was the second fastest of the session, with a time of 2’00.285 —just 66 thousandths of a second off eventual session top man Ben Spies. Jonathan Rea continued his adaptation to MotoGP with 15 laps of MotorLand, with his best lap a 2’04.046 that put him in eleventh.
Tomorrow the Repsol Honda Team riders will undertake a third session of practice laps in preparation for afternoon qualifying, which will decide the grid for the Aragon GP.