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.

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