Only five riders managed to book places on the provisional grid for the 250cc French Grand Prix – a statistic that speaks for itself and explains the track conditions for the first qualifying practice this afternoon.

With intense rainfall and several riders crashing on the main straight, Daniel Pedrosa decided not to take to the track whilst his team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama needed just four laps to realise that it was too dangerous to continue.

 Despite everything the double World Champion took a lot of positives out of the morning free practice, which took place in dry conditions. Dani clearly dominated the session and set a fast pace before ending with the second fastest time, losing out to Sebastian Porto by just 0.074 seconds after being held up by Guintoli on his last lap. A series of set-up problems left Aoyama some way behind, but the Japanese is confident that tenth place is not a true reflection of reality.

DANI PEDROSA (no lap time): “The heavens opened during qualifying and we just waited to see if it would stop and allow us to complete a few laps, but it wasn’t the case and it is very dangerous to ride in those conditions. It would have been very easy to fall because there were a lot of puddles and when I saw two riders crash on the straight I decided it wasn’t worth risking it because there was nothing at stake. Tomorrow we’ll have to go out in order to qualify but I hope that if it does rain it isn’t as bad as today. I went well in the dry this morning, we tested some tyres and we’ve got some clear ideas”.

HIROSHI AOYAMA (not classified): “This afternoon was madness; I’ve never seen a qualifying session with so much water. I went out to check the track conditions and came back in after four laps because it was really dangerous. I’m not too happy with the morning session either  - I didn’t feel as comfortable on the bike as I did last year but we know why and I’m sure I’ll be higher up tomorrow”.

LAP TIMES

1. Anthony West (Aus/Aprilia) 2’01”771
2. Arnaud Vincent (Fra/Fantic) 2’05”211
3. Hugo Marchand (Fra/Aprilia) 2’08”055
4. Alex De Angelis (RSM/Aprilia) 2’09”046
5. Alex Debón (Esp/Honda) 2’10”053