Pedrosa turned the fastest practice lap in spite of the weather, aboard his Repsol Honda RC212V.
The English weather proved to be quite English as the British Grand Prix got underway at Donington Park. Rain dampened the track surface just prior to the opening of Friday practice, but Repsol
Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took advantage of a drying line later in the session to peel off the fastest lap of the day.
The Spaniard was trailed on the timesheet by the fastest rider for most of the session, Ducati’s Casey Stoner. Valentino Rossi paced third-fastest in the wet, followed by the second factory Honda pilot, Andrea Dovizioso, and the Doctor’s Fiat
Yamaha counterpart, Jorge Lorenzo.
Marco Melandri was sixth-fastest on Friday, the lone
Kawasaki rider a half-second off Pedrosa’s pace. The Italian also holds sixth in the overall points, and Supermarco is especially keen on placing well at Donington, as he resides very near the British circuit.
Casey Stoner turns the wet Donington Park surface during Friday's practice session.
Alice
Ducati rookie Mika Kallio was seventh on the day, followed by Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards and San Carlo Gresini Honda’s Toni Elias. Meanwhile, Ducati’s Nicky Hayden rounded out the top 10, well over a second off the pace of his teammate Stoner, much less Pedrosa.
Loris Capirossi took 11th, while Englishman James Toseland’s homecoming resulted in a 12th-place place time and track run-off.
Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen and Honda riders Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis were all well off the pace and at the back of the timesheet. All three figure to improve in tomorrow’s qualifying session.
BBC Weather is forecasting improved conditions for Saturday’s qualifying, with light rain expected for Sunday’s race.
MotoGP Donington Practice Times:
1 Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'38.627
2 Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'38.872 +0.245
Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi kicking up the water at the East Midlands circuit.
3 Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'38.917 +0.29
4 Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1'39.069 +0.442
5 Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1'39.105 +0.478
6 Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) 1'39.130 +0.503
7 Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1'39.209 +0.582
8 Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'39.379 +0.752
9 Toni Elias (Honda) 1'39.755 +1.128
10 Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1'40.116 +1.489
11 Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1'40.419 +1.792
12 James Toseland (Yamaha) 1'40.522 +1.895
13 Gabor Talmasci (Honda) 1'40.850 +2.223
14 Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1'41.467 +2.84
15 Randy de Puniet (Honda) 1'41.861 +3.234
16 Alex de Angelis (Honda) 1'42.210 +3.583
17 Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) 1'42.696 +4.069
MotoGP Donington Practice Rider Quotes:
Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro Team - 2nd
"It was good to be able to test the wet setting today because we’ve struggled with it a little this year and we need time to work out the best solution. We’re still far from it at the moment but it felt quite good and we have a good base to work from now. Once we got some laps under our belt in the wet I decided to sit the rest of the session out because even though the track was drying it was very slippery and it would be foolish for us to risk an unnecessary crash on the first day of an important weekend. Hopefully we’ll get a couple of sessions in the dry tomorrow and ideally, from our point of view, we’d like it to be cool."
Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha – 3rd
“These strange conditions are always hard to ride in but it was important that we had some time in the wet today because we were able to understand our level. We’re quite happy because I felt confident and I was able to be fast today. The conditions changed a lot during the hour and by the end it was mostly dry, which meant it was quite hard to ride with the wet tires but we were still quite fast and in the end we’re third, which is a good start. We’ve got a few modifications to make as usual after a Friday but we have a good base. Tomorrow it seems it will be completely dry so hopefully by the end of the day we will be ready for Sunday, whatever the weather.”
Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha – 5th
“I’m really happy about this practice today because I felt comfortable on the bike and was able to brake quite late in the wet. I was pleased that we had a chance in the drier conditions later, because it showed what we need to work on for tomorrow. I had made a lot of laps in the rain so my tire was quite worn by that time, when it was more dry, but anyway the times weren’t important for me today and I’m just happy about my performance in the wet. We learnt a lot and now we will use this to improve tomorrow.”
Mika Kallio – Alice Ducati – 7th
"To start with the seventh position is not bad at all for us here. It's the first time that I ride my Ducati here and we are trustful that we can improve tomorrow. We still lose too much time in the last sector of the circuit and tomorrow we will have to study a different set up to gain some more time in that area. Anyway this has been for us a positive day."
The Kentucky Kid still looking for his 2006 swagger aboard his new Ducati ride.
“Typical British weather! It’s been like this since I got here at the start of the week. We started out in the wet and I didn’t have much feel to begin with but we made a couple of changes and got better and better as the session went on. On the last lap I went straight in the last corner and ran wide so I made a little error there. Basically the bike didn’t feel too good in the heavy rain but much better in the damp. The weather looks better for tomorrow so we hope that’s the case because it was difficult to draw any conclusions today.”
Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki – 11th
"As I have said before, we need to have time on the bike to get it set-up the best for us. It seems that we keep getting really difficult weather that isn't helping us at all. Today we used a wet tire for the whole session and at the end 85% of the track was dry and the rest was wet so it was difficult to be able to get anything done. We can hope that the weather is better tomorrow so we can work on the bike and if we can I am sure we will be in a good position for Sunday."
Chris Vermeulen looking to get back in the form that once saw the Aussie in GP-winning and podium contender status.
"It was really strange conditions out there today, but I guess you could say that is just normal British weather! We had a huge downpour at the start of the session and the track was very wet and quite slippery. We worked hard - and quickly - on getting a good wet setting while the track was still wet and the bike worked well in those conditions. At the end the track dried a lot so we just tested some small things that didn't really rely on fast lap-times, which was useful because with how the track was there wasn't a lot else to be learnt out there. At the end I came in a bit early because the track had dried out in most places, but there was still a couple of wet patches and it seemed a bit too dangerous for slicks."
Niccolo Canepa – Alice Ducati – 17th
"Today's situation was really particular and we didn't have enough time to make big modification on the bike for the last part of the session when the track was basically dry. Anyway with wet surface of the track we were really constant and for tomorrow we are sure that we can also improve on the dry."
