Pedrosa starts home race from second row, but wary about shoulder problems

 In MotoGP, News

The starting grid for the second race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix, is decided and it repeats the pattern already seen two weeks ago in Qatar. Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa dominated again the qualifying session of the World Championship’s premiere class and will start tomorrow from the first and second places, respectively. Andrea Dovizioso will be in sixth position.

In the qualifying session, Jorge Lorenzo was the first to take the lead, followed by Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. Positions were nearly fixed for the main part of the session but, 15 minutes before the end, when all riders had already mounted the soft tyres, the situation kept changing with each lap.

Pedrosa attacked first and ended 19 thousandths in front of his fellow countryman, but his team mate at the Repsol Honda Team, Casey Stoner, reduced the fastest time by nearly 3 tenths. The Australian set a register of 1 minute, 38 seconds and 757 thousandths, a time he reduced himself in 63 thousandths more and nobody else was able to improve.

Five minutes before the end of the session, Lorenzo snatched the second place from Pedrosa, who was then 81 thousandths behind the rider from Mallorca. Determined to scratch some tenths to get the second place, the Spaniard of the Repsol Honda Team pushed to the max in his second to last lap and was finally able to set the second fastest time, 158 thousandths behind Stoner.

Dani Pedrosa 1:38.915, 22 laps, 97 km.
“To be on the front row is always very important and second is a good place to start the race. I would like to improve the bike a little bit, especially on the third section of the track, the only place where I lose some tenths, and it would help to have better braking and exit of the corners there.

It’s been tough with the shoulder – in fact this morning I decided to only do a few laps to not stress the arm so much – and it will be difficult also tomorrow, but there’s nothing else I can do, I’ll just try to finish the race in the best way possible and hopefully, bring home a good result.We need to see how the weather is tomorrow – perhaps it rains, but maybe it could be better for my shoulder”.

Source: Repsol Media

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