Pedrosa on Third Row with New Bike and Tyres

INDIANAPOLIS -- Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa scored a third-row start at Indianapolis today, an impressive performance considering that this is his first race weekend with a new machine and new tyres. Tomorrow the Spaniard will race his Bridgestone-equipped pneumatic-valve RC212V for the very first time.

Pedrosa was fourth fastest in this morning’s final free practice session. During this afternoon’s qualifying session he used the Japanese company’s qualifying tyres for the very first time, managing to achieve eighth-quickest time of the day, less than a second off pole, despite minimal track time with the tyres.

Following yesterday’s all-day deluge, conditions improved dramatically today, with this morning’s session starting out on a damp track and this afternoon’s outing conducted on a fully dry circuit in 34 degree sunshine. However, latest weather forecasts predict heavy rain for much of tomorrow as the remnants of Hurricane Ike move northwards into Indiana.

Dani Pedrosa, 8th fastest, 1m 41.754s

“Today was the first time that I have used Bridgestone qualifying tyres, so it was quite difficult because I was trying to study the tyres while at the same time trying to push for the best possible-grid position. The fact with qualifying tyres is that you can only be really fast once you know them very well. I was able improve my times with my third qualifier, so I think the third row is not such a bad result, considering the circumstances. As for race tyres, I wasn’t able to do too many consecutive laps because we had so little dry-track time. Therefore we still need to define some details for race-tyre choice but overall I feel quite fine. We also need to work to better understand my new machine, which is very different from the machine I had been using, especially considering the electronics. All in all, I’m confident, we are gaining important experience and improving every time I go out. I hope we will have a dry race tomorrow. If it’s going to rain like it did yesterday afternoon then we will discuss with Race Direction the best course of action.”

Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager

“This has been a very difficult two days for Dani because track conditions have been different in all four sessions. He has many new items here: new machine and new tyres, so he has a lot to learn. He has made a good job so far, working step by step, especially this afternoon when he was getting to know new qualifying tyres. Now we have to wait and see what the weather will do.”

QUALIFYING FREE PRACTICE TIMES
1 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 1'40.776 
2 C. STONER AUS Ducati Team + 0.084 
3 J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team + 0.401 
4 N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 0.495 
5 B. SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 0.688 
6 R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 0.716 
7 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 0.968 
8 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 0.978 
9 T. ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 1.110 
10 J. TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha + 1.121 
11 C. EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 1.158 
12 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1.193 
13 L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1.529 
14 S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 1.629 
15 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1.775 
16 J. HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team + 1.897 
17 S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1.956 
18 M. MELANDRI ITA Ducati Team + 3.031 
19 A. WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team + 3.155