Jerez: Pedrosa tops Practice 2

Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner had a positive start in Jerez, with both riders sharing the top positions on the time sheets on the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Spain.

They were the only riders capable to set 1'39 which was also under the Circuit Record of 1'39.731 set by Pedrosa in 2010. The Australian was the fastest rider in the morning session with 1'39.551, followed by Pedrosa with a marginal gap of 0.028, then the Spaniard took the top spot in the afternoon with a lap time of 1'40.101 this time followed by Stoner in second with 1'40.289. The strong wind preventing improved times in the second session.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) was third followed by Marco Simoncelli to fourth.

Valentino Rossi was fifth.

DANI PEDROSA – 1st – 1'40.101
"I think we are doing a good job. The bike was working OK, it was moving a little but maybe because the grip was not so good today; other riders were also struggling with it and we saw some crashes in all the categories. Also the strong wind played a part in the afternoon, it was more difficult to control the bike especially on fast corners and we couldn't improve the lap times. Let's see if the track conditions improve tomorrow and if we can do better. Regarding my physical condition, I'm struggling in the same way I did in the Qatar race because the situation has not changed, but I cannot do anything to feel better, so I'm just focused on riding as best as I can. I'm doing short runs because it's better for me and working on the bike to prepare for the race. We hope to improve tomorrow and do a good qualifying practice".

CASEY STONER – 2nd – 1'40.289
"The first session went well and I had a good feeling with the bike, we tried to repeat this in the afternoon session but the conditions weren't perfect – it was quite windy. It seems to be a little smoother to ride here than in the past, but it's a shame the weather wasn't better so we could spend some time working on the settings. In general both bikes we tried seemed to work pretty well and we'll pick up from there tomorrow to concentrate on the set-up. The grip level doesn't seem to be so good here, I think everyone is struggling with this so that's another element we need to work on tomorrow in time for qualifying".

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