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Le Mans practice recap by InfoMotoGP

Posted by Staff

Friday, 16 May 2008

From InfoMotoGP

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 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 pole-man Colin Edwards, who rounded off one of the closest top threes that 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 on 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.

Mapfre Aspar´s Alvaro Bautista was the 250cc category top dog on Friday afternoon, taking provisional pole for Sunday´s Alice Grand Prix de France with a 1´38.479 lap. The Spaniard leapfrogged Lotus Aprilia´s Alex Debon in the final moments of the session, which closed proceedings on day one at Le Mans.

Debon was just a tenth of a second down on the former 125cc World Champion, with both onboard the latest Aprilia machinery. Behind them –himself only a tenth of a second slower than Debon- was Marco Simoncelli onboard his Metis Gilera machinery.

Polaris World´s Mattia Pasini and Emmi-Caffe Latte man Thomas Luthi were also in the mix representing Aprilia, ahead of Repsol KTM´s Julian Simon, Gilera rider and former World Champion Manuel Poggiali, Spaniard Aleix Espargaro and Shanghai podium finisher Hiroshi Aoyama. The latter´s Red Bull KTM teammate, standings leader Mika Kallio, was tenth quickest.

There was a high-speed lowside crash for Karel Abraham, whilst Hector Barbera suffered a mechanical problem in the opening third of the session and struggled thereafter. Late on, Espargaro experienced difficulties with his exhaust and had to pull over after crossing the line.

Sergio Gadea put himself in the driving seat at Le Mans in the afternoon qualifying session, taking provisional pole on the 125cc grid with a 1´43.515 lap onboard his Bancaja Aspar Aprilia.

The winner of the 2007 race at the French circuit held off Britain´s Bradley Smith, himself a former podium finisher in Le Mans and the man responsible for three poles from a possible four thus far in 2008, by just under a tenth of a second. The duo were joined by Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing´s Stefan Bradl and World Championship leader Simone Corsi in pencilling their names on the front row.

As things stand, Mike di Meglio will be heading the second row at his home race, still less than half a second down on Gadea. Accompaniment comes in the respective forms of Esteve Rabat, Pol Espargaro and Joan Olive, a three-pronged Spanish attack from the second line.

Another pair of Spaniards, Marc Marquez and Efren Vazquez, had the biggest collision of the session, although both were unharmed in the incident.

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