Pedrosa fastest as conditions stay poor

Dani Pedrosa set the pace in another rain-affected MotoGP practice at Valencia.

As was the case in Friday’s second session, conditions were once again too wet for slicks and too dry for wets, leading to a dearth of early running.

Exacerbated by a new surface that does not lend itself to swift drying, the conditions meant that by the halfway mark just 11 riders had set a time, with Phillip Island race-winner Casey Stoner, Ducati’s Valentino Rossi and Tech 3′s Cal Crutchlow not going out at all.

That collective reluctance did at least dissipate over the final minutes, when the track finally dried out enough for slicks.

While there was still little the teams could learn on the slippery surface, rendering laptimes largely meaningless, there was at least cause enough for all the usual frontrunners to head out.

It was Honda rider Pedrosa who ended on top, the Spaniard eventually working his way down to a 1m33.033s.

That was six tenths faster than Tech 3 duo Andrea Dovizioso and Crutchlow, with the Italian stealing ahead of the Briton as the chequered flag fell.

LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl came home fourth, the last rider to get within one second of Pedrosa.

Nicky Hayden on the second Ducati was fifth fastest ahead of newly-crowned champion Jorge Lorenzo, Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and Aspar CRT rider Randy de Puniet.

Casey Stoner was ninth fastest, with Rossi two spots further back in 11th.

Pos  Rider               Team/Bike                 Time       Gap
  1.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda                     1m33.033s
  2.  Andrea Dovizioso    Tech 3 Yamaha             1m33.641s  + 0.608s
  3.  Cal Crutchlow       Tech 3 Yamaha             1m33.672s  + 0.639s
  4.  Stefan Bradl        LCR Honda                 1m33.751s  + 0.718s
  5.  Nicky Hayden        Ducati                    1m34.263s  + 1.230s
  6.  Jorge Lorenzo       Yamaha                    1m34.296s  + 1.263s
  7.  Alvaro Bautista     Gresini Honda             1m34.764s  + 1.731s
  8.  Randy de Puniet     Aspar Aprilia             1m34.915s  + 1.882s
  9.  Casey Stoner        Honda                     1m34.991s  + 1.958s
 10.  Michele Pirro       Gresini FTR-Honda         1m35.371s  + 2.338s
 11.  Valentino Rossi     Ducati                    1m35.824s  + 2.791s
 12.  Karel Abraham       Cardion Ducati            1m35.919s  + 2.886s
 13.  Roberto Rolfo       Speed Master Aprilia      1m36.149s  + 3.116s
 14.  Hector Barbera      Pramac Ducati             1m36.192s  + 3.159s
 15.  Katsuyuki Nakasuga  Yamaha                    1m36.267s  + 3.234s
 16.  Aleix Espargaro     Aspar Aprilia             1m36.517s  + 3.484s
 17.  Danilo Petrucci     Ioda Suter-BMW            1m36.538s  + 3.505s
 18.  Ivan Silva          Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m36.753s  + 3.720s
 19.  Hiroshi Aoyama      Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m37.701s  + 4.668s
 20.  Colin Edwards       Forward Suter-BMW         1m37.969s  + 4.936s
 21.  Claudio Corti       Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m38.663s  + 5.630s
 22.  James Ellison       Paul Bird Aprilia         1m46.122s  + 13.089s
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/motorcycles/motogp/pedrosa-fastest-as-conditions-stay-poor

Denny Hulme James Hunt Jim Hurtubise Gus Hutchison Jacky Ickx