“It was a positive first day of practice. We didn't test anything in special, because our priority today was checking that the bike was also working well here in Qatar, a very different circuit than Sepang, where we did the main winter testing. We basically worked on the set-up of the bike, to adapt it for this layout and conditions, and tomorrow we will continue working on mappings and a front fork,” Pedrosa stated after the first testing session in Qatar.
Rounding off the all-Honda top three was Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama, in one of his strongest MotoGP performances yet. On the other hand, the factory Yamaha duo of Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo settled for fourth and fifth respectively.
Tech3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards claimed sixth place, while third Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso, ended seventh fastest.
On the other hand, factory Ducati riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden came on ninth and tenth place, respectively. This was Rossi’s best performance of the pre-season testing.
Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner have all continued development work on the RC212V, each focusing on specific attributes to their machine. The riders used the same chassis, but tested different rider positions and race set-up. In addition, all three Honda Repsol riders wore a black arm band in respect to the people of Japan, who have recently been hit by the disastrous quake.
“It's nice to be so close to the season and at the final test, I'm just pleased the team reached here safely and there were no casualties back in the HRC Headquarters in Saitama, my thoughts are with all the people in Japan,” Stoner said.
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