Riding at the third event of the year on home soil, Pedrosa was quick in both sessions as he honed the settings of his RC212V for the tight and challenging track. The 22-year-old, chasing his second victory of the season, finished the day behind only Ducati's
MotoGP world champion
Casey Stoner and Tech 3 Yamaha's
Sylvain Guintoli (using a qualifying tyre).
On the way, Pedrosa recorded a promising series of laps in the low 1min 33secs bracket and was fastest through the speed trap in the afternoon session, making him a firm contender for his fourth pole position in a row on Saturday.
"Today was a solid start to the weekend and my fastest lap time was pretty good," declared Dani. "I was able to run at a reasonably consistent pace in both sessions and when the temperature rose for the afternoon my lap time came down quite a lot. Nonetheless, we still have a few issues to solve with settings and tyre choice if we're to be truly competitive - we need to find a little bit extra. The gap to the front is not big but everybody's times are very close and a small gap counts for quite a lot at this circuit. Obviously this is an important race for me and for the team. It's the last race of the year and our last chance to get a good result. Plus it's a home race for me which adds an extra incentive. We want to win here so we've got to continue moving forward to make that possible."
Also desperate for Valencia victory is Repsol Honda team-mate
Nicky Hayden, who clinched the 2006 world championship in dramatic style at the circuit one year ago. Hayden set a time exactly 0.5secs behind Pedrosa this afternoon, good enough for ninth, but wants much more as he seeks to break his 2007 win drought.
