Suspension settings and tyre choice still on Pedrosa’s task list

Five days after the last race that took place last Sunday at the United States, the Motorcycling World Championship crossed the Atlantic to celebrate with little time to rest the San Marino Grand Prix, of which the first free practice sessions took place today. Casey Stoner, who was the fastest in the first session, finished just a few thousandths away from the fastest time of the day, set by Jorge Lorenzo. Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, who improved their times in the second session, finished in third and sixth position, respectively.

A searing heat welcomed the riders of the Continental Circus, that today took the Misano track showing a very high level. After 20 laps in the first session and 22 more in the second, Dani Pedrosa finished the day 200 thousandths behind his team mate Casey Stoner.

Dani Pedrosa FP1 – 1:34.529, 20 laps, 85 km. FP2 – 1:34.205, 22 laps, 93 km.
“We had a good start in the morning, I felt quite comfortable from the beginning, but in the afternoon we didn’t improve as much as I would have liked.When Bautista’s engine blew in front of me I thought the track would become dirty, so I did some slow laps to check and I lost some time and rhythm.
We have to keep working with the suspension to get better traction and stability under hard braking, so we will focus on this tomorrow. I tried both tyre compounds, the hard one only this afternoon, and we still don’t know which one will be better for the race.”

Source: Repsol Media