The Repsol Honda Team had a positive first day at the Le Mans circuit on Friday which saw the completion of the first two practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of France. Dani Pedrosa finished at the top of the timesheets in the morning with team-mate and World Champion Nicky Hayden just 0.2s behind in third place. The afternoon saw Pedrosa edged off top spot by Marco Melandri’s Honda, while Hayden ended a rain-shortened session in ninth place overall and unhurt after a slow speed fall in one of the 4.180km (2.597 miles) French circuit’s many hairpin corners. Though Hayden didn’t improve his lap-time in the afternoon, the 25-year-old American remains confident for tomorrow.
Pedrosa’s strong Friday performance at a circuit he likes bodes well as he prepares to start his 100th Grand Prix on Sunday. At 21 years and 233 days old, he will be the youngest rider to reach this landmark, a record to add to the three-time World Champion’s already glittering Grand Prix career so far. The Spaniard will go into tomorrow afternoon’s one-hour qualifying session with the intention of repeating his pole position from last year at a circuit where he’s already taken three victories in the smaller Grand Prix classes.
Dani Pedrosa – 2nd 1m 35.319s “Today we began the set-up work with the new 800cc machine at this circuit and the practice sessions went quite well. I was able to set the fastest time this morning and was second fastest in the afternoon which is not so bad, and I also put in some longer runs with a reasonably consistent pace. The rain cut short the afternoon session but I think we were lucky to get nearly two dry hours and this has helped us to work towards a good dry set-up. So we’ll just hope that the weather stays fine for the next two days as well. I’ve tried a modified exhaust system today which helps with the noise from the bike and also alters the engine character, and we’ll continue to evaluate this tomorrow. I hope to get a good qualifying position to give me the best chance of a clean start in the race.”
Nicky Hayden – 9th 1m 35.908s
“This morning went well and the feeling from the machine was pretty good. Coming out of the gate the bike was reasonably close to where we need it to be and the Michelin tyres were working really well too. I was able to put in some consistent laps and third was a fairly good place to finish the session. The afternoon was a blip on the radar we didn’t really need though. I went out with the same tyres as the morning to try to get some more laps on them and just lost the front in the slow corner at Turn 6 – the front just let go and I was down with no big warning. After that I was just getting the feeling back at the front when it started to rain at the end of the session. It was a really easy fall though, and I don’t think I’ve caused the boys too much work on the bike. I quite enjoyed the morning session so we’ll come back in here tomorrow and aim to get right back on the pace.”
Makoto Tanaka - Team Manager “The morning went well for the Repsol Honda Team and I think this is a circuit which better suits the RC212V. It’s good to see three Hondas in the top three places. Dani was fastest this morning and very close in the afternoon too so he’s looking strong for tomorrow. Nicky went very well in the morning, though the fall in the afternoon meant he couldn’t repeat that performance this afternoon. He can bounce back tomorrow though and it should be an exciting qualifying session.”
Combined Free Practice Times:1. Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini 1m 35.319s
2. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team 1m 35.467s
3. Carlos Checa - Honda LCR 1m 35.498s
4. Colin Edwards - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 35.626s
5. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 35.746s
6. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 35.759s
7. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 35.770s
8. Toni Elias - Honda Gresini 1m 35.818s
9. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team 1m 35.908s
10. Alex Barros - Pramac d'Antin 1m 36.044s
11. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 36.139s
12. Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki Racing Team 1m 36.352s
13. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 36.491s
14. Sylvain Guintoli - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 1m 36.705s
15. Kenny Roberts Jr - Team Roberts 1m 36.770s
16. Makoto Tamada - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 1m 36.795s
17. Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda 1m 36.855s
18. Alex Hofmann -
Pramac d'Antin 1m 37.668s
Free Practice conditions: Weather: Sun
Temp: 23ºC
Track: Dry / 24ºC
Humidity: 24%
Circuit length: 4.180km – 2.597 miles
Lap Record: Valentino Rossi 1m 35.087s (2006)
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