British MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa ‘Great to be on top’

Dani Pedrosa made the perfect start to the final British MotoGP race at Donington Park today, the Spaniard topping the timesheets at the end of opening practice.

On a virtually dry track at the end of a rain-hit session, the 23-year-old timed his attack perfectly and claimed top spot on his lap with a best time of 1.38.627.

That pushed Aussie Casey Stoner off top spot after the factory Ducati rider had held first place with a best time of 1.38.872 for the final ten minutes of a session that started on a rain-soaked track.

Pedrosa, who followed up his shock Laguna Seca success earlier this month with a third place in Germany last weekend, said: “It feels great to be on top today and I’m pleased with how we handled a tricky practice session.

“The conditions were continually changing and so we needed to make the best use of the track time to learn as much as we can.

“There are a few areas we can improve upon – such as the feeling from the bike when it’s really wet – and we’ll look at working on the settings for those conditions because the weather doesn’t look so stable for the weekend and we could see more rain on Sunday.

“It nearly dried out fully towards the end of the session but we stayed on wet tyres for the whole time and I think this was useful because you can have this sort of situation in the race.

“We’re in reasonable shape for the rest of the weekend and I hope I can be in this position at the end of Sunday afternoon.”

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