James Toseland predicted that his problems in the second practice session for the Alice Grand Prix of France at Le Mans this afternoon were more annoying than a problem for him and his Tech 3 Yamaha team.
The 27 year old Yorkshireman was tenth fastest on his very first ride round the 2.597 mile Bugatti circuit in the morning but slipped back another five places to 15th in the afternoon after making some changes to his machine.
“ I’m really frustrated this afternoon after settling in well to the new track and finishing tenth in the morning,” explained Toseland, who is joint fifth in his first season competing in the MotoGP World Championshoip.” We decided to make some changes in the afternoon. We altered the suspension to try and improve the level of tyre grip but it was step in the wrong direction. We will sort it and it was more annoying than a problem.”
Pedrosa Leads – Lorenzo Crashes Bitter Championship rivals Spaniards Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo enjoyed contrasting fortunes after a hard fought first day of practice Championship leader Pedrosa led the way riding the Repsol Honda while Lorenzo crashed in the afternoon session but still managed to finish fourth fastest overall. The 21 year old from Mallorca limped away from his crash on the Fiat Yamaha and suffered no more damage to the fractures of both ankle he sustained in China two weeks ago.
Sandwiched between the two Spaniards was World Champion Casey Stoner, who was impressive form on the Marlboro Ducati following the tough start to his title defence and American Colin Edwards. Last year Edwards started the race from pole and also took pole position at the previous round in China, riding the Tech 3 Yamaha.
Behind Lorenzo in fifth place was last year’s winner Australian Chris Vermeulen who put together his best session of the season on the Rizla Suzuki finishing in front of Chinese Grand Prix winner Valentino Rossi, who did not improve on his morning times in the afternoon.
The first nine riders were separated by less than one second.
Mixed Day for British Youngsters While Bradley Smith and Scott Redding enjoyed the dry conditions in 125 cc practice and first qualifying Danny Webb crashed in spectacular style in the afternoon qualifying session. Smith, riding the Polaris World Aprilia, failed by nine thousandths of one second to grab provisional pole while 15 year old Redding on his very first visit to the Bugatti circuit was a very impressive 12th.
Seventeen year old Webb was not so lucky. Early in the qualifying session he was highsided from his De Graff Aprilia and suffered heavy bruising to his left hand, left leg and back. The latest medical bulletin indicates no serious damages and Webb should be able, albeit very sore, to ride tomorrow.
With rain forecast for the second qualifying session tomorrow riders went out in the dry thinking about grid positions for the race and Smith, chasing his fourth pole of the season, led the way until the last couple of minutes when he was pipped by Spaniard Sergio Gadea with Stefan Bradl and Championship leader Simone Corsi completing the provisional front row.
In the 250 cc class, Ulsterman Eugene Laverty qualified 19th riding the Blusens Aprilia.
