Pedrosa leads first night of Qatar test
Dani Pedrosa was fastest as the Honda domination continued on day one of the final MotoGP winter test in Qatar
The floodlit evening session saw an all-Honda top three, with works riders Pedrosa and Casey Stoner leading Gresini's Hiroshi Aoyama - in one of the former 250cc champion's strongest MotoGP performances yet.
Pedrosa set his 1m56.271s with just over two hours to go, beating Stoner's previous benchmark by 0.143 seconds. Aoyama was within 0.03s of Stoner's time.
Three Yamahas completed the top six, with works riders Ben Spies and early pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo ahead of Colin Edwards on the Tech 3 bike. Andrea Dovizioso was seventh on the final factory Honda.
It was another difficult night for Ducati. Valentino Rossi had an early fall at Turn 9, and though he was unhurt and able to continue, he could only manage eighth, just ahead of team-mate Nicky Hayden.
Randy de Puniet recovered from two minor accidents to take 10th place on the Pramac Ducati, while Sepang test star Marco Simoncelli (Gresini) was back in 11th this time - though he was under a second off the pace in the closely-matched field.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap Laps 1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m56.271s 41 2. Casey Stoner Honda 1m56.414s + 0.143s 32 3. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda 1m56.444s + 0.173s 59 4. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m56.563s + 0.292s 38 5. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m56.682s + 0.411s 60 6. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m56.742s + 0.471s 42 7. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m56.780s + 0.509s 56 8. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m57.038s + 0.767s 57 9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m57.137s + 0.866s 57 10. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m57.143s + 0.872s 39 11. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m57.226s + 0.955s 57 12. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m57.302s + 1.031s 61 13. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m57.325s + 1.054s 69 14. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 1m57.437s + 1.166s 56 15. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m57.499s + 1.228s 49 16. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m57.737s + 1.466s 51 17. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m58.250s + 1.979s 65
Share Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
Why Pedrosa won't replace Vinales at French MotoGP
Pedrosa: "In Stoner I saw things I simply couldn't do"
Toby Moody: Pedrosa bites back
The flaw Cadillac must fix to reach F1's midfield
MotoGP Czech GP: Bagnaia wins sprint as Bezzecchi crashes out
DS Penske on the pace and in the points!
Alex Marquez withdraws from MotoGP Czech Grand Prix
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments