Pedrosa takes up speed at Sachsenring

The two first free practice sessions of the German Grand Prix allowed to see today at Sachsenring circuit a recovered Dani Pedrosa. Despite a minor crash in the morning session. the Repsol rider finished the day with a remarkable third fastest time, just ahead of his team mates, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

There is undoubtedly a very special relationship between Dani Pedrosa and the Sachsenring. With two memorable victories in MotoGP —2007 and 2010—, the Respol rider also won here in his two visits on a 250cc in 2004 and 2005. Nevertheless, he also suffered a dramatic crash here in 2008, when under a deluge he was on his way to his first win on wet asphalt.

Today, Pedrosa saw again both sides of the coin, with a minor crash in the first session —he lost grip in the front wheel on corner 11— but also with a positive third position at the end of the day, after a second session where he finished 207 thousandths behind the fastest, Marco Simoncelli.

Dani Pedrosa FP1 – 1:23.604, 19 laps, 70 km. FP2 – 1:22.432, 22 laps, 81 km.
“We had a quite positive start despite the accident I had in the morning practice session. I crashed in the fast downhill right hand corner, like everyone else because the tyre was very cold and I had no warning.

Fortunately I did not hurt myself which is good and in the afternoon I was able to improve my lap times because in the morning, after the crash, we didn’t have much time on track. In the second practice, with sunshine and a little more temperature on the track, we had better grip especially in these critical turns on the right, although the track conditions are not great.

Anyway, times are pretty good compared to last year although the track conditions are worse. We will keep working on the bike tomorrow and I will probably try the new swing arm I tested in Mugello on Monday”.

Source: Repsol Media