Pedrosa feeling much better after injury, but not yet “at home” on his bike
Bright sunshine finally emerged at the end of the afternoon practice session at Estoril today, but only after heavy rain throughout the day had significantly disrupted the start of the Grand Prix of Portugal race weekend. The morning session was almost a complete wash-out, with only two riders leaving the pits to brave the treacherous track conditions and the thunderstorm that raged overhead. Like most of the MotoGP field, Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso chose to sit out the session for safety reasons, and also because of the limited returns of riding in such conditions.
The afternoon practice also started wet, but the rain clouds had done their worst by this point and, although there were still some puddles around the track, the surface slowly began to dry as the session progressed. With marginal conditions throughout however, the lap times were widely spread as some riders were clearly more comfortable than others on the co ld and slippery surface.
As in Australia two weeks ago, Dani Pedrosa was again greeted with less than favourable conditions today for his return to riding after his absence through injury. The Spaniard steered clear of trouble however to complete 19 valuable laps in the afternoon session and prove to himself that his physical condition has improved significantly.
Though his lap time was well off the pace of today’s fastest rider, Jorge Lorenzo, Pedrosa chose caution over heroics and made a steady start to the weekend, quietly confident that he can move up the timesheets tomorrow.
Due to the loss of this morning’s session, the practice and qualifying sessions tomorrow have been extended in duration from 45 minutes to one hour to give the teams more preparation time.
DANI PEDROSA – 13th – 1m 53.592s +5.070s
“Straight away I felt much better on the bike here than I did in Australia and the shoulder has recovered a lot, which is very positive. I feel a little bit tired now, but basically I feel ok after riding today. It was a pity that we missed the whole practice this morning because of the rain, and also at the beginning of the afternoon session the track conditions were difficult, which limited what we could achieve. To be honest I didn’t feel totally at home on the bike today but I think this is normal after so long without riding, and this situation will improve. Usually when you ride in wet conditions you take it easy and this was especially true for me today because I certainly didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. It was good to be on the bike again and to see that I can ride more or less normally. Tomorrow we’ll see what the weather brings, but it’s goo d that we have two hours instead of two 45-minute sessions, and we’ll make the most of that extra time.”
Source: Repsol Media Service
