Pedrosa reaches record pace in Laguna Seca practice

Round 10: United States Grand Prix – Free Practice One and Two

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Clik here to view.Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was quickest in both practice sessions and set a new record fastest lap to dominate the first day of action at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

• Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium (Asymmetric)
• Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative)
• Weather: FP1 – Dry. Ambient 17-19°C; Track 29-34°C (Bridgestone measurement)
• FP2 – Dry. Ambient 19-18°C; Track 44-44°C (Bridgestone measurement)

After topping the timesheets in FP1, Pedrosa set a scorching time of 1’21.088 in FP2 to end the session 0.334 seconds ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, while on the other Repsol Honda RC213V, Casey Stoner was third quickest in Friday practice and 0.369 seconds behind his teammate.

Weather conditions today were typical for Laguna Seca, with cloud cover and cool conditions greeting riders for the morning’s FP1 session, though the skies cleared as the day progressed with a peak track temperature of 44°C recorded during FP2. In the cooler morning session all riders selected the softer compound slicks front and rear for FP1 to ensure the highest grip levels while getting used to the extra power of the 1000cc machines around Laguna Seca. With warmer track temperatures in the afternoon most riders switched to the harder slicks front and rear for FP2 as the improved track conditions saw a resultant increase in pace. Overall, lap times were much quicker than in the corresponding sessions last year, with the greater warm-up performance and feel of the 2012 specification tyres allowing riders to quickly find a rhythm around this challenging circuit.

MotoGP™ action returns to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Free Practice 3 at 1010 local time (GMT -7) and qualifying for the United States Grand Prix will commence at 1355.

Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department

“After a typically cool morning at Laguna Seca for FP1, the sun broke through in the afternoon causing much warmer track temperatures and so tyre choice varied considerably between the two sessions. The cool temperatures this morning meant that all riders went for softer slicks front and rear for FP1 to give them the best grip characteristics while getting a feel for the circuit, while most riders switched to the harder slicks in the afternoon as track temperatures increased. Lap times were very quick compared to the Friday practice sessions last year, so it seems the extra warm-up performance and feel of the 2012 specification tyres allowed riders to come to grips with the circuit quickly.”