Decreased grip posing challenge for Pedrosa

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa says the markedly different track conditions at Misano compared to the recent test created a new set of challenges on Friday.

Pedrosa was fourth fastest and the top Honda rider as he lapped in 1m 33.346s, leaving him only 0.115s behind early pacesetter Danilo Petrucci on the Octo Pramac Ducati.

The Spanish rider, who is fifth in the standings and 35 points behind Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, says heavy rain on Thursday may have caused decreased grip levels at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit.

“We need to work a lot before Sunday and today it was important to start well. At least in the test we had much better grip and maybe it is because of the rain,” he said.

“I expected the track to be better in the afternoon, but it didn’t improve that much, so we worked a lot on the tyres and also the suspension.

“We still need to see how is the track tomorrow; we just need to find a way around the challenging conditions. In the test obviously we had more feeling so we knew which tyre was the correct one to use at the time,” added Pedrosa.

“Today, with the track like this, it is more difficult to understand which is the correct tyre, especially in the rear. We will work more about this and also suspension.”

Pedrosa is also seeking an improvement in sector three, although he is unsure exactly why he is losing so much time.

“We still need a little bit some feeling, but we are working and also one of the important points in sector three, still not very fast. I was alone, so I should try to see somebody else to understand,” he said. “I believe it is the back straight, going into the back straight, but it is only a guess.

“We started FP2 very well, but then we decided to try a few different things on the set-up that didn’t work as expected. That aside, I’m feeling comfortable at this track and we’re working very well.

“Tomorrow we’ll work more on the tyre choice, focusing on the hard option in order to make a few comparisons with what we did today.”