Pedrosa happy to be on front row again

After yesterday’s storm on the Portuguese track of Estoril, today the weather respected the MotoGP sessions, which shaped the starting row for tomorrow, where Pedrosa will start from the first row.

Despite the clouds that covered the sky during all day, the rain did not appear at the Portuguese track. Nevertheless, the morning practice session was held with the surface still damp due to the heavy rain fallen just 24 hours before which made most premiere class riders to be cautious. In the first practice session, Casey Stoner completed seven laps, while Andrea Dovizioso did fourteen and Dani Pedrosa eleven. They finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, with times ten seconds slower that the ones set yesterday.

With the asphalt completely dry but with the possibility of the unpredictable rain, all riders set a good pace quickly. Dani Pedrosa was soon among the fastest, while Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso improved yesterday’s times and sensations steadily.

Once again, when the end of the session approached, the pace raised at the Portuguese track, where the three Repsol riders set red helmets on the time displays, indicating they were setting times better than the pole. The fastest time was finally set by Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa did his best in the two last laps, but the time he gained in the first part of the track was lost in the second, and finally finished 163 thousandths adrift of his fellow countryman.

Dani Pedrosa FP3 – 1:48.102, 11 laps, 46 km. QP – 1:37.324, 28 laps, 117 km.
“I’m very satisfied with this front row today. It was a very close session as it always is in this circuit and our main target this afternoon was to be on the front row, so I’m happy about this. For tomorrow, we will try to set up our bike a bit better for the race distance. I know that physically it will be tough for me because after the recent surgery my shoulder has improved a little but it is still very stiff and the muscles hurt.

Anyway, I hope to be able to stay with Lorenzo because for sure he will be consistant and that will be one of the key points in the race. The weather is nothing that we can change, so we will need to also be ready to do our best in any condition”.

Source: Repsol Media