Dani Pedrosa sets the pace on day one at Motegi

The Repsol Honda Team has indicated the reference on the first day of free practice for the Grand Prix of Japan, with Dani Pedrosa on top and Casey Stoner in seventh position.

Dani maintained his recent momentum and set the fastest time of the day with 1’46.088 in FP2 where he tested both hard and soft compound Bridgestone rear tyres in a perfect day at Motegi, with temperatures reaching 23 degrees. Dani already lapped within the circuit record that he set last year with 1’46.090.

Repsol Honda Teammate Casey, on return to competition after his injury that has kept him inactive since Indianapolis, had a difficult morning after an unusual failure left him with only one bike from the beginning of the session. The Australian also experienced issues in the afternoon session and lost valuable track time as he reacquainted himself with his Honda RC213V and adapted to riding with his healing ankle. He finished the day in seventh position, 0.890 off his teammate, hoping his ankle will ease slightly for tomorrow’s qualifying.

DANI PEDROSA
“Today was a perfect day for practice. The track conditions were very good, the warm temperatures helped as did the new surface, so we were able to do the job we wanted. The main target today was to test the tyres and we completed some good laps on both hard and soft compounds. The asphalt is new and the grip is quite good, so the lap times are pretty fast from the beginning. We also did some work on the suspension and the mapping to will keep improving on this tomorrow”.

Source: Repsol Honda Team