Pedrosa leaves Estoril as fastest tester

After finishing second behind compatriot Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) at the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was the fastest participant in the post-GP test at Estoril on Monday in the absence of the young Yamaha rider.

With Lorenzo the only MotoGP absentee as he underwent surgery in Barcelona to correct his arm pump condition, Pedrosa was the quickest of the testers with a lap of 1´36.455 of the Portuguese track.

Pedrosa and team-mate Nicky Hayden will have to wait until at least the post-race test at Le Mans to test their updated pneumatic valve engine which they had originally expected to test in Portugal, but Pedrosa´s current competitiveness is not in question and his Monday pace was further confirmation that he is in good form at present.

Lorenzo´s team-mate Valentino Rossi, also a podium finisher on Sunday, was second fastest as he tested tyres and set-up, with the top five also comprising Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot), John Hopkins (Kawasaki Racing) and the aforementioned Hayden and who were also all on the pace over the Grand Prix weekend.

Once again the only rider to produce a reasonable lap time on the Desmosedici GP8, World Champion Casey Stoner completed the day eighth on the timesheet, with no major new parts to test at present.

The session was briefly red flagged just after 3pm when the engine on Hopkins´ Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR broke just as he had left the pits, but there were no serious consequences – Hopkins ending the day 4th on the timesheet.

There was another notable moment earlier in the day when Tech 3 Yamaha´s Colin Edwards had a near crash coming out of the downhill turn seven and managed to save his 800cc M1 after some bucking and weaving, which resulted in a cracked screen from the impact of his helmet and some bruising on his ankle which slammed against a foot peg during the incident.

After some icing in his pit-box Edwards soon resumed testing and now has plenty of time to let any bruising heal before the fourth round of the season in China on the first weekend in May.

Post-bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal test, best lap times
1. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1´36.455
2. Valentino ROSSI, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1´36.707
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, JiR Team Scot MotoGP - 1´36.791
4. John HOPKINS, Kawasaki Racing Team - 1´36.872
5. Nicky HAYDEN, Repsol Honda Team - 1´36.928
6. Colin EDWARDS, Tech 3 Yamaha - 1´37.145
7. Randy DE PUNIET, LCR Honda MotoGP - 1´37.146
8. Casey STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1´37.330
9. Chris VERMEULEN, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP - 1´37.617
10. Shinya NAKANO, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1´37.725
11. James TOSELAND, Tech 3 Yamaha - 1´37.767
12. Loris CAPIROSSI, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP - 1´37.781
13. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1´37.782
14. Toni ELIAS, Alice Team - 1´38.695
15. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Alice Team - 1´39.010
16. Anthony WEST, Kawasaki Racing Team - 1´39.065
17. Marco MELANDRI, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1´39.725