Repsol Honda's riders have started the French Grand Prix FPs with good momentum: MotoGP Update
Repsol Honda's riders have already shown a blasting pace of their potential, accompanied by the 2011 RC212V, by dominating the third round at Estoril, early this month. The free practice sessions saw their continued performance ahead of Monster Energy
Grand Prix de France at Le Mans.
The triple-rider squad consisting of Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso maintained their momentum throughout the first day. The Repsol's team is gathered back at Le Mans to restart the good work they have done from the season's start.
The riders used the same set-up with their respective RCVs, which they sorted for the Portuguese race. The track is somewhat comparable to the in layout. After the first two practice sessions the riders were confident to improve their pace and sustain the
performance.
Despite of his upsetting victory at the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal, Dani Pedrosa was able to hold a decent pace in both the practice sessions. The first session gave him the second place on the time sheet, but the second session pace dropped him
to be third spot. In the morning, Pedrosa was lacking grip on his bike due to low temperatures, but by the afternoon it got better and warmer, still the improvement lacked expected performance. The team has some ideas to implicate in next FP session.
Pedrosa missed the post-race test session at Estoril. So to continue the improvement, he tested the new Ohlin front forks with hard and soft tyres to compare it with the feedback from his RCV.
Pedrosa added, "In the morning it was difficult with the cold conditions to find some grip and then in the afternoon the grip got better but we couldn't improve as much as we expected. We have to keep the momentum and bounce back again because we are
doing well, the bike is going very strong and we have to keep focused and work hard.”
Casey Stoner was originally the top rider of the day, when he set the limit on the time sheets in both the free practice sessions. The first FP session was filled by Repsol Honda trio, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso in 1-2-3 respectively.
The Aussie set his best lap time of 1:33.782 minutes in the final session of the day.
Stoner said, "The track has quite good grip and we have a better feeling than in the past few years in this track and we are very happy. We went out this morning and didn't change so much from Portugal as the tracks are pretty similar for us.”
The sixth fastest rider of the day was Andrea Dovizioso, who made a stunning fourth place swap with Rossi at Estoril round during last lap.
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