The Telefónica MoviStar Honda 250cc team and their World Champion Daniel Pedrosa are ready for the start of the World Champion in two weeks’ time at Jerez, venue of the second and final day of official tests today.
As he had done during previous sessions at Catalunya, Valencia and Jerez, Dani lapped inside lap record time aboard the Honda RSW 250 machine he will use to defend the number one plate this season. The carburetion problems he suffered yesterday have been resolved and Pedrosa was able to complete the testing programme that had been virtually on hold since Barcelona.
Dani completed a total of 128 laps, 57 today, putting together a string of fast times every time he went out onto the track. The session began at around 2pm due to damp track conditions caused by overnight rain but warm temperatures in the afternoon allowed the majority of riders to improve their lap times from yesterday. Daniel Pedrosa pulled his fastest lap out of his sleeve in the final half hour of the session, with his testing programme already completed.
The double World Champion clocked a best time of 1’43”103, some six tenths quicker than yesterday and 1.3 seconds inside the circuit record, which was set by Daijiro Kato in 2001. Hiroshi Aoyama was fifth fastest and also lapped inside circuit record pace.
DANI PEDROSA (1’43”103, 128 laps in total):
“We really made the most of today and tested everything we had planned for the Jerez session. We managed to fix the bike that we’d had to park up with carburetion problems and we also got rid of the vibrations. The session started a little late but generally it was a good day of tests. We’ve taken a step forward in every aspect. You could see that everybody was very busy, looking forward to starting the season. It’s been a long preseason and I’m ready to go racing. We’re ready and highly motivated.”
HIROSHI AOYAMA (1’43”831, 151 laps in total):
“Generally speaking it was a positive test although I was hoping to lower my lap times more today - I didn’t even improve on my fastest lap from yesterday. The track conditions weren’t as good and with us going out late, with a lot of set-up tests still to do, I didn’t have time to push for a fast lap.”
COMBINED LAP TIMES
- Sebastián Porto (Arg/Aprilia) 1’42”818
- Dani Pedrosa (Esp/Honda) 1’43”103
- Randy De Puniet (Fra/Aprilia) 1’43”710
- Alex De Angelis (RSM/Aprilia) 1’43”758
- Hiroshi Aoyama (Jap/Honda) 1’43”831
- Andrea Dovizioso (Ita/Honda) 1’44”038
- Casey Stoner (Aus/Aprilia) 1’44”062
- Jorge Lorenzo (Esp/Honda) 1’44”083
- Roberto Locatelli (Ita/Aprilia) 1’44”289
- Yuki Takahashi (Jap/Honda) 1’44”544