After an impressive preseason, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) got the season proper off to a flier as the ‘Baby Samurai’ completed the top three on Day 1 in the desert. Just behind teammate Marc Marquez and fastest man in FP1 Maverick Viñales, the three-time World Champion pushed to stay near the top as the weather forecasts look to worsen going forward – mindful of securing a place in Q2.
DP26, P3: “I’m happy with today. Even if the track conditions and the grip weren’t the best, we tried to push hard in case the weather gets worse tomorrow as the forecast says. It was important to be up front, because everybody is expecting some rain. I’m generally happy and I think we have already gathered a lot of good information. We’ll see how things go and keep working to do our best.”