Pedrosa: Front row important against rivals
Dani Pedrosa says securing a front row start for the Argentina MotoGP could be vital against his front-running rivals when hunting victory and was pleased to not gamble on dry tyres in qualifying.
The Repsol Honda rider held provisional pole with a 1m 47.330s on the wet tyres in drying conditions during qualifying but lost out on his 32nd career MotoGP pole when Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller stormed ahead by gambling on dry tyres at Termas de Rio Hondo.
Dani Pedrosa says securing a front row start for the Argentina MotoGP could be vital against his front-running rivals when hunting victory and was pleased to not gamble on dry tyres in qualifying.
The Repsol Honda rider held provisional pole with a 1m 47.330s on the wet tyres in drying conditions during qualifying but lost out on his 32nd career MotoGP pole when Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller stormed ahead by gambling on dry tyres at Termas de Rio Hondo.
Pedrosa was content with second place on the grid in the challenging conditions but says he opted not to pull off the same gamble for dry tyres as Miller to strengthen his odds for a front row start.
“I had one bike on each set up so I could go on the slicks after the first run but I wasn’t really sure because I could see Turn 7 was very wet,” Pedrosa said. “I thought maybe I could go two seconds faster in the first two sectors but then finish there.
“I decided to go with the wets and I did a pretty good lap and I was happy but I knew the track was improving all the time so I was not sure that time was enough for pole. I am happy because the front row is also very important and at the end we had a little bit of mixed conditions all day but today in qualifying it was good.
“One of the fastest guys in all the sessions is not here so for sure we have to be focused for any conditions and be ready for if it is dry to try to make the correct choice of tyre. It is a long race so it is important to have a good pace and feel comfortable on the bike. We are on the front row so we hope to do have a good start.”
Pedrosa is eager for either a fully wet or fully dry race in Argentina tomorrow so he can nail down a firm set-up rather than endure further risks in mixed conditions.
“I think dry is always better because here the rain is pretty thin and you don’t know if it is really wet or dry,” he said. “It is hard to also see on the asphalt if the line is getting dry or not so to have the mixed conditions it is always more tricky.
“At this moment we don’t know so we will just have to try to be ready for both conditions.”
