Pedrosa tops Friday practice at Aragon

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa was fastest overall in today’s two opening MotoGP practice sessions as the Grand Prix of Aragon – which is a brand new event on the world championship calendar – got under way. In the morning Pedrosa wasted no time in laying down his marker for the weekend by heading straight to the top of the timesheets and staying there for almost the entire 45-minute period, finishing a healthy 0.411s ahead of second placed rider Nicky Hayden. Andrea Dovizioso also slipped smoothly into his stride, joining Pedrosa at the head of the times in the first half of the morning session before dropping back to eighth on his second outing from the pits.

Pedrosa is looking to record his third MotoGP victory in succession this weekend, and on today’s evidence his rivals need to keep a close eye on the 24-year-old Spaniard, who announced a new two-year contract with Honda yesterday. In the afternoon period which began with rain falling steadily, Pedrosa was again consistently quickest in the first half the session and, although he was not on track due to a minor electrical issue when lap times came down significantly on a drying surface in the final ten minutes, Pedrosa had already displayed his pace in both wet and dry conditions today. With the wet afternoon session, today’s fastest times were set in the morning.