27-08-2010

SOLID POSITIONS FOR THE REPSOL HONDA DUO AT INDY

The eleventh appointment of 2010 with the Top Class has officially got under way today at Indianapolis where the Repsol Honda riders, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, mounted on board their Honda RC212V to do the first changes on the set up in order to make their bikes powerful for the big day.

Dani Pedrosa struggled a little bit before finding the right rhythm on the Indianapolis circuit, where last year classified in tenth due to a crash. Repsol Honda Spaniard worked a lot to find the right rear grip on a hostile circuit for MotoGP riders due to its bumps and surface changes. Pedrosa ended the day with the fourth best time, a positive start before Sunday’s race.

Andrea Dovizioso and the team began Friday’s session by carrying on with the front suspension comparison work they started during the post-race tests at Brno. The Repsol Honda Italian, who was fourth at Indianapolis last year, carefully studied also the tyre options available for the American challenge and in the final minutes of the session he was able to improve his pace till placing in seventh position.

The fastest rider of today’s free practices was the Australian Casey Stoner who showed a great shape and a good feeling on the Indiana circuit by grasping the fastest time of 1'40.884. He was followed by Jorge Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden, who will be back on track tomorrow to ride their bikes into the best positions of the starting grid.


FREE PRACTICE – THE RESULTS

1 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team DUCATI 1'40.884
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'41.109
3 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'41.405
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'41.421
5 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'41.623
6 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'41.664
7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'41.683
8 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'41.722
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team DUCATI 1'41.992
10 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'42.147


Moto2

In the intermediate class, the rider who reached the top of the timesheets was the young English Bradley Smith. The rider of the Marc VDS Racing Team took the best result in the final lap through the time of 1’46.728 and left behind a disappointed Championship leader Toni Elias, another rider battling it out for the title, Andrea Iannone and finally Simone Corsi.


125cc

Marc Marquez starred in the first day of action of the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix by reaching the best time of 1'49.452 in the free practice on board his Derby, despite a crash which affected him early in the session. The Championship standings leader was followed by rivals Pol Espargaro and Nicolas Terol, whilst the fourth place went to German Sandro Cortese.

27th August 2010