Pedrosa unstoppable in first practice
Dani Pedrosa dominated the opening free practice session at Misano, ending the afternoon six tenths of a second clear of the field
The Honda rider, fresh from his third win of the year at Indianapolis last weekend, was at the front for the majority of the session.
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) nosed ahead by 0.076s for a spell, but Pedrosa soon reasserted his authority. Although Lorenzo improved his pace several times after that, it was only ever by a few fractions of a second - and in any case Pedrosa moved well out of reach with two minutes to go when he set a 1m34.772s lap.
Then as the chequered flag fell, his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso came through to take second from Lorenzo by 0.06s and complete a Honda one-two.
Yamaha filled the next four places - Lorenzo leading his factory team-mate Valentino Rossi and Tech 3 pair Colin Edwards and Ben Spies.
It was a tough session for Ducati. Nicky Hayden was outside the top 10 for most of the hour, jumped up to fourth briefly, and ended up seventh, while his team-mate Casey Stoner struggled with the bike and was only eighth.
Gresini Honda's Marco Melandri and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi filled the final top 10 positions, with Hector Barbera in the top five for Aspar Ducati early on but pushed back to 11th in the end.
Pos Rider Team Time Gap 1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1:34.772 2. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1:35.384 + 0.612s 3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1:35.444 + 0.672s 4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:35.539 + 0.767s 5. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1:35.834 + 1.062s 6. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1:35.892 + 1.120s 7. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1:36.028 + 1.256s 8. Casey Stoner Ducati 1:36.072 + 1.300s 9. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1:36.126 + 1.354s 10. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1:36.277 + 1.505s 11. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1:36.293 + 1.521s 12. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1:36.454 + 1.682s 13. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1:36.533 + 1.761s 14. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1:36.716 + 1.944s 15. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1:37.001 + 2.229s 16. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1:37.697 + 2.925s 17. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1:37.900 + 3.128s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare 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?
Pedrosa "doesn't miss racing very much" despite starring Misano MotoGP wildcard
Pedrosa now ‘understands value’ of Rossi winning in MotoGP at 38
Toby Moody: Pedrosa bites back
Pourchaire to make IndyCar debut for Arrow McLaren at Long Beach
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
Red Bull says it can't match "very lucrative" Audi F1 offer to Sainz
Mercedes F1 junior Pin joins the FRECA grid
Can anyone stop "changed" Bagnaia as Ducati tightens its grip on MotoGP?
The signs that MotoGP's Japanese powerhouses are changing for the better
The other Suzuki signing that could transform Honda's MotoGP form
How the MotoGP paddock has offered refuge to Suzuki's former team
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