Indy USGP: Pedrosa tops Friday practice

The 2009 Indianapolis Grand Prix began today as the 2008 event finished – wet. Thankfully however, the hurricane force winds that played havoc with last year’s race at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway stayed away this time, and it was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa who made the best of the conditions to set the fastest time in the weekend’s first hour-long practice session.

In fact both Pedrosa and his Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso displayed impressive commitment on the wet track, with each rider spending time at the top of the timesheets as the famous “brickyard" welcomed MotoGP for a second year. For the first 20 minutes of the session as the track got increasingly wet, Dovizioso set the pace on his factory RC212V, displaying the peerless ability in tricky conditions that saw him win the British Grand Prix at Donington in July and lead the first two laps of last year’s race here.

After Dovizioso’s early showing it was Pedrosa’s turn to take the lead, confidently using Bridgestone’s treaded wet tires to maximum effect and achieving inspiring angles of lean on the track’s grippy surface. His fastest lap of 1m 51.507s was set in the first half of the session and, though some riders came close in the dying moments, his impressive mark remained unchallenged.

Results

Pos

Rider Time Nat Bike Team
1 Dani Pedrosa 1m 51.507 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Nicky Hayden 1m 51.662 USA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team
3 Valentino Rossi 1m 51.814 ITA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team
4 Jorge Lorenzo 1m 51.894 SPA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team
5 Alex De Angelis 1m 52.264 SMR HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
6 James Toseland 1m 52.888 GBR YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha
7 Loris Capirossi 1m 52.928 ITA SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
8 Colin Edwards 1m 53.128 USA YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha
9 Andrea Dovizioso 1m 53.151 ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
10 Marco Melandri 1m 53.590 ITA KAWASAKI Hayate Racing Team
11 Mika Kallio 1m 53.967 FIN DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Chris Vermeulen 1m 54.554 AUS SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
13 Randy De Puniet 1m 55.674 FRA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
14 Toni Elias 1m 55.788 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
15 Aleix Espargaro 1m 56.204 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
16 Gabor Talmacsi 1m 56.594 HUN HONDA Scot Racing Team MotoGP
17 Niccolo Canepa 1m 58.244 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing