Pedrosa concentrating on braking

Dani Pedrosa was third fastest in the first practice at Sepang on Friday, and the Spaniard is pleased with how his Honda RC212V performed.

There is still room for improvement however, with Pedrosa keen to stabilise the braking on his factory machine ahead of Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.

The 24 year-old was just over half a second off leader Jorge Lorenzo’s pace, with rival for third spot in the championship Casey Stoner also quicker than him in the Friday session.

“It was tough, it was very hot out there but I think the track was a little bit dirty. So I think little by little it will get cleaner, and we can get faster,” said Pedrosa. “I’m happy with how this first practice session has gone and we’ve established a good base for the weekend.”

“The lap times are already quite competitive because we test at this circuit and all the teams have plenty of set-up data even before we arrive. I’m not worried about being half a second back from the fastest time at this stage – it’s not so important and we have some areas to work on to improve things.”

Pedrosa added, “To achieve good stability under braking is the key area for us and we’ll be working to make some improvements to the set-up for tomorrow.”