Dovizioso sets pace in France practice

Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso was fastest in today’s opening practice for the Grand Prix of France at Le Mans in a session that was cut in half by a rain shower after 30 minutes. Both he and his teammate, Dani Pedrosa, were quickly on the pace this afternoon as they began the process of setting up the factory RC212V ahead of Sunday’s 28-lap race at the famous French venue.

Dovizioso lay in second place early in the session before going top at the halfway point, immediately before rain began to fall and the riders ducked into the pits. Though some riders returned to the damp track, they were unable to better Dovizioso’s fastest lap. Both Repsol Honda riders chose not to ride many laps in the damp conditions, preferring to preserve their allocation of wet tires.

Afterwards Dovizioso said, "I’m happy today because we have started in the right way here at Le Mans. I like this track and I was able to be fast right from the beginning of the session. Unfortunately it started raining in the middle of the practice and so we didn’t do many laps – only 16 in total. This meant we couldn’t test so many options on the machine but anyway, we were able to get some useful information and learn that we need to improve the set-up for corner entry. The lap times overall were not very fast today and I think they will come down by around two seconds – so today’s lap time is not indicative for the weekend. Regarding the race, I’ve had many podium finishes here so my expectations are high, but it’s too early to speculate about results. We just need to keep on working hard – and keep an eye on the weather."

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