Pedrosa still playing preseason catch-up

Despite taking victory in the Gran Premio bwin.com de España –his second consecutive victory on Spanish soil- and leading the way in the MotoGP World Championship standings after two races, Dani Pedrosa is still playing catch-up for his incomplete preseason.

The Repsol Honda star was one of the MotoGP riders present at the post-race test in Jerez on Monday, aiming to take advantage of two days set aside for further work ahead of the next race in Estoril. Pedrosa recorded the eighth fastest time of the day, and was the quickest rider to only use race tyres, but admitted that the focus of his efforts was on getting up to speed with the Honda RC212V.

`Today we worked on basic setup to help us get more familiar with the bike, to know our package better and to find the best direction, so we can continue improving,´ noted the 2007 MotoGP runner-up after the first day of work.

`It's the kind of work we usually do at preseason tests but we weren't able to do this year because of my injury (Pedrosa fractured his hand on January 22nd in Sepang, causing him to miss the majority of his 2008 testing schedule).

`It was a necessary job with a lot of stops in the pits but I think it was very useful. We also started working on tyres with Michelin and we will focus on tyre testing all day tomorrow. It will be a very important day, crucial for our development program.´