Pedrosa tops day 1 of Jerez test

Despite bitter cold and strong winds, and although track temperatures only reached 23 degrees this afternoon, Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa was more than half a second inside the lap record he established during his runaway victory in last April’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Dani Pedrosa, fastest lap: 1m 39.525s (lap 40 of 41 laps)
“They resurfaced the whole track in August and the new asphalt is very grippy and smooth, so I was able to do some good lap times despite the cold temperatures and the strong winds which we had to deal with. Today we focused mainly on the engine, but the low temperatures meant that we started quite late this morning and stopped quite early this afternoon, so I need another day of testing to give a better evaluation of the latest engine configuration which is quite different from before. We also did some work on electronics, working to improve corner-entry performance and so on, but I think we need some more time on the motorcycle to really understand this latest engine configuration."

LAP TIMES

1. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 1.39.525
2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1.40.135
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1.41.163
4. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1.41.390
5. Alex De Angelis (Honda Gresini) 1.41.468
6. James Toseland (Yamaha) 1.41.539
7. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) 1.41.655
8. Toni Elias (Honda Gresini) 1.41.679
9. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) 1.42.074
10 Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1.42.098
11 Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1.42.837
12 Sete Gibernau (Ducati) 1.42.943
13 Vitto Guareschi (Ducati) 1.43.642
14 Yuki Takahashi (Honda Team Scot) 1.44.360