Pedrosa continues form with strong start at Mugello

The winner of last weekend’s German Grand Prix, Dani Pedrosa made a great start to round nine, the Italian Grand Prix, at Mugello. The Repsol rider was just 0.031 off the fastest time of the day, achieved by Jorge Lorenzo. Reigning World Champion Casey Stoner had a difficult day, placing sixth on the timesheet with a lap 0.451 off the top.

Pedrosa, reinvigorated by the announcement of his contract renewal with the Repsol Honda Team for the next two seasons, had two positive sessions on Friday, improving his times from one run to another by almost eight tenths. Third in the morning session, 0.746 off Lorenzo, the Spaniard reduced the gap to just 0.31 in the afternoon.

Dani Pedrosa
FP1 – 1:48.877, 15 laps, 79 km.
FP2 – 1:48.107, 22 laps, 115 km.
“We had some troubles with the tyres in the morning, but in the afternoon we made a step forward that I’m happy with in order to keep improving tomorrow. We struggled to get up to the pace a little in FP1, but during the day we were getting closer to Lorenzo, who seems to have the set up quite clear from the beginning.

In the afternoon we wanted complete the 12 laps Bridgestone requested on the standard hard option tyre. I went out planning to make this long run on my first exit but I couldn’t complete it due to the red flag. Anyway, we finished the day quite well and we have some ideas for tomorrow; we need to find some more grip and better braking to gain three or four more tenths”.

Source: Repsol Media Press Release