Pedrosa Leads The Way In France

Fresh off his victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, Dani Pedrosa topped both Friday practice sessions on the Bugatti Circuit within Circuit de la Sarthe. Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, set the bar today on the first day of free practice for the GP of France, taking the top two places on the time sheet.

The weather in Le Mans has been kind to the team on the first day, with rain threatening but fortunately both sessions remained dry. In this morning's FP1, the air temperature was just 12§C with the track only 14§C, and Dani and Marc took no chances – both opting for the soft compound front and rear Bridgestone tires. Then in the afternoon's FP2 session, temperatures rose to 19§C and 35§C on the track, which gave them the opportunity to test the hard front tire and a new soft rear.

Dani continued to improve his lap time throughout the session and in the end he recorded his fastest time on his final lap of 21 with a 1'34.035. Teammate Marc also saved the best until last with a 1'34.169 on his final lap of 18.

Dani Pedrosa 1st 1'34.035
"In today's practice sessions it was important to test the tires and make the most of the dry track time, because here you usually don't have that opportunity. So I tried to stay out on track for as long as possible and gather the best information, because maybe tomorrow it will rain – and you don't have that chance again. Luckily the weather held up and we were able to make some positive steps, which we hope to capitalize on for the race on Sunday"

Marc Marquez 2nd 1'34.169
"Le Mans has always been a good track for me in the other classes. I was fast today right out of the box and felt comfortable. In the first session I got a bit overwhelmed, because I could tell that the track was not allowing much space for me between the corners with this bigger bike and faster pace. I didn't have much time to think. I was calmer in the afternoon and things went much better. This track is all about accelerating and then braking, although the final sector is more twisty and has some longer corners. It is only Friday, and we still have work to do. Tomorrow, if the track is dry, we will improve our times – but the forecast predicts rain. With a little luck, on Sunday we will have a dry track and be able to have a good race"

Practice Results