Pedrosa surprised by title lead

The Repsol Honda rider's year got off to the worst possible start when he broke a bone in his hand in a spectacular crash during the first day of testing at Sepang.

That setback, including the lack of pre-season testing mileage, appeared to have derailed Pedrosa's title charge - but the Spaniard has shown little after affects to hold a seven-point lead in the title chase heading into this weekend's French Grand Prix.

Speaking about if he dreamed of being in such a position after that Malaysia crash, Pedrosa said: "Of course I am surprised and happy because it was difficult to believe at that moment (it would happen) with the big problems we had with the bike before the first race.

"We are happy with that and we will try and keep it in the same way. Leading the championship is very important."

Pedrosa admitted that with four different winners from the first four races, the title fight was very hard to call this year.

"Four winners and four races looks like an open championship and we will try and keep our rhythm for the next races. But this one is very important and we will try to improve."

But Pedrosa looks set to have to wait a bit longer to get his hands on Honda's new upgraded engine, with him revealing on Thursday that there were no plans to test it in Monday's post-race run.

"No," he said when asked if it would test on Monday. "Well, for the moment it is running quite well. But we have some weak points on that one. It is not dramatic but I would like to have some news (soon)."