Pedrosa quickest in Motegi practice

Added on Friday, September 30th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor

Dani Pedrosa topped the time charts in Friday’s free practice ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The Repsol Honda rider recorded a time of 1:46.790 in Friday’s second session, 0.054 seconds faster than teammate Casey Stoner.

It was a solid performance all round for Honda, with the top four places filled by HRC riders. Andrea Dovizioso was third fastest, 0.162 behind Stoner, whilst Marco Simoncelli was fourth fastest, just over a tenth quicker than Jorge Lorenzo.

Nicky Hayden completed the top six, with Hiroshi Aoyama, Valentino Rossi, Hector Barbera and Colin Edwards completing the top ten.

Yamaha’s Ben Spies was the only rider who did not improve his time in FP2, with the American retiring from the session due to exhaustion after completing just five. The former World Superbike Champion, who has been struggling with illness, checked himself into the medical centre and will try to rest enough to participate in tomorrow’s events.

Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Dani Pedrosa	SPA	Repsol Honda	1:46.790
2	Casey Stoner	AUS	Repsol Honda	+ 0.054
3	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	Repsol Honda	+ 0.162
4	Marco Simoncelli	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	+ 0.398
5	Jorge Lorenzo	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	+ 0.520
6	Nicky Hayden	USA	Ducati	+ 0.591
7	Hiroshi Aoyama	JAP	San Carlo Honda Gresini	+ 0.995
8	Valentino Rossi	ITA	Ducati	+ 1.185
9	Hector Barbera	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Ducati	+ 1.265
10	Colin Edwards	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+ 1.286
11	Alvaro Bautista	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	+ 1.307
12	Randy de Puniet	FRA	Pramac Ducati	+ 1.584
13	Cal Crutchlow	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+ 1.589
14	Ben Spies	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	+ 1.777
15	Toni Elias	SPA	LCR Honda	+ 1.953
16	Karel Abraham	CZE	Cardion AB Ducati	+ 2.515
17	Kousuke Akiyoshi	JAP	LCR Honda	+ 2.674
18	Shinichi Ito	JAP	Honda Racing	+ 2.883
19	Damian Cudlin	AUS	Pramac Ducati	+ 4.559