Aragon MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa unfazed by poor wet session

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa blamed an electronics glitch for leaving him woefully off the pace in this afternoon’s rain-hit second practice session at the spectacular new Motorland Aragon track.

The in-form Spaniard had continued his impressive recent form to top the timesheets in this morning’s opening 45-minute session run in cool by dry conditions.

Pedrosa had beaten former HRC team-mate Nicky Hayden by 0.411s but the electronics issue with his factory RC212V machine hindered his progress this afternoon. 

Pedrosa was looking strong in full wet conditions and once again was able to top the timesheets.

But as the track dried and conditions improved in the final ten minutes of the session, Pedrosa was unable to capitalise.

He ended with a best time of 2.05.394 that was 3.6s off Casey Stoner’s best pace and only Mika Kallio, Aleix Espargaro and Hiroshi Aoyama were slower.

The 24-year-old, who has just signed a new contract with HRC, said: “In general this has been a good first day of practice for us at a brand new circuit for MotoGP. This morning we started well and got into a rhythm quickly, which was important because it makes a big difference going from the one-hour practice sessions we’re familiar with to 45 minutes.

“It’s necessary to stay out on track for longer runs and not spend too long in the garage, and this morning we did a good job to maximise our time. This afternoon in the wet we also started pretty well when it was raining properly, but then we had a small electrical problem with one bike and the other machine wasn’t ready to go out, so we lost some time in the garage and I wasn’t on track when the surface was improving at the end.”