Dovizioso thrilled with practice result

The Honda rider grabbed the top spot today just before a rain shower after 35 minutes convinced most riders to pull into the garages.

"I'm happy today because we have started in the right way here at Le Mans," said Dovizioso. "I like this track and I was able to be fast right from the beginning of the session.

"Unfortunately it started raining in the middle of the practice and so we didn't do many laps - only 16 in total. This meant we couldn't test so many options on the machine but anyway, we were able to get some useful information and learn that we need to improve the set-up for corner entry.

"The lap times overall were not very fast today and I think they will come down by around two seconds - so today's lap time is not indicative for the weekend."

His team-mate Dani Pedrosa felt he had managed little set-up work before the rain, but was pleased by his continued physical improvement as he recovers from the wrist and knee injuries he aggravated during the winter.

"My physical condition is getting better all the time and I can bend my knee a lot more now - I've almost got full movement," he said.

"Still, I haven't been able to train physically at 100 per cent though, so my condition isn't perfect yet, but it's getting better all the time."

Team mananger Kazuhiko Yamano was very satisfied with Honda's start to the weekend, although he praised the riders for getting such quick times out of a bike that he conceded is not yet an absolute frontrunner.

"We can build on this start, though we still have to make progress with our machine and I think these results today are primarily down to the performances from our riders," Yamano said.