Pedrosa tops combined Friday timesheets

Fastest in both the morning and afternoon MotoGP sessions in Le Mans, Dani Pedrosa holds the early advantage ahead of the Alice Grand Prix de France. The Repsol Honda rider and current leader of the MotoGP World Championship recorded a 1´34.227 lap of the newly-modified Bugatti circuit to end the day one step ahead of his premier class rivals.

He did so in the afternoon run by the slimmest of margins, less than five-hundredths of a second ahead of reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner. Only a further eleven-thousandths of a second down was 2007 poleman Colin Edwards, who rounded off one of the closest top three´s one is likely to see.

Only slightly slower than the top trio, Jorge Lorenzo was once again injured and once again in fourth place. The Spaniard is in better condition than he was two weeks ago in Shanghai, although a late run-off problem and some still-tender ankles meant that the Fiat Yamaha rookie´s last action of the day involved being stretchered back to his garage.

Last year´s race winner in the wet, Chris Vermeulen proved himself equally adept under dry conditions at Le Mans, coming in fifth at only four-tenths of a second slower than Pedrosa. His presence made it four different manufacturers and five different teams in the top fistful of riders.

Valentino Rossi was the sole rider unable to improve his morning time in the afternoon, finishing sixth overall, ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Shinya Nakano, home rider Randy de Puniet, Kawasaki man John Hopkins and MotoGP rookie Alex de Angelis on day one.