Dani sets the pace
Stoner makes it a quick day for Honda at Sepang
DANI Pedrosa laid down the marker for the Spanish showdown with Jorge Lorenzo for the MotoGP world title by setting the fastest lap on the opening day of the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit yesterday.
Pedrosa clocked 2:01.621 on his Honda machine in dry conditions in the morning, when all the riders went out on the track.
However, the afternoon session was hit by heavy rain and many of the top riders opted not to bring their bikes out on the slippery track.
Although Avintia Blusens team rider Ivan Silva of Spain set the fastest lap of the afternoon (2:10.602), it was Pedrosa’s yardstick that gave the best indication of the pace to come this weekend.
Two-time world champion Casey Stoner of Australia, who is set to call time on his illustrious career at the end of the season, was second fastest in 2:01.773.
Honda Repsol rider Stoner, like Pedrosa, did not ride in the afternoon.
Yamaha’s Lorenzo, currently holding a 28point advantage at the top of the world championship standings, brought his machine home third quickest in 2:01.934.
Sepang crowd favourite Valentino Rossi just missed the top 10 as his best lap of 2:03.274 in the morning only placed him 11th at the end of the day.
The Italian, who has nine world championship titles, is riding the last three races for Ducati before returning to Yamaha next season.
But it’s Pedrosa who has drawn first blood in his bid to take the world title fight down to the wire.
Pedrosa is going for a hat-trick after winning the last two races in Aragon, Spain, and Motegi, Japan.
Having not raced in Malaysia since 2009 – he missed the 2010 race due to injury while last year’s race was cancelled following the death of Marco Simoncelli – Pedrosa is delighted to get off to a good start as he eyes a hat-trick of MotoGP wins.
“We’ve been lucky to have the first practice in dry conditions and to begin setting up the bike for the race as we’ve seen in the last few days sooner or later it rains here,” he said.
“The track was a little dirty in the morning and the grip level quite poor but the lap times were not so bad and the conditions will improve over the weekend.
“In the morning I had a lot of vibration in the rear, which we think was a problem with the wheel balance. I did a sighting lap in the afternoon and it was full wet until Turn 4 but from there, full dry, so we decided to stay in the pits.
“We will have to make good use of track time tomorrow morning to prepare the bike for qualifying and the race.”
With 25 points for a win and a total of 75 points still to fight for, Lorenzo has a mathematical shot at picking up a second world title if he wins tomorrow and his rival finishes no higher than 13th.
Lorenzo is now hoping for a further dry run and an increase in pace to match the Repsol Hondas over the weekend.