Dani Pedrosa was quick to admit that Thursday didn’t exactly go to plan for Repsol Honda in Qatar. The championship favourite was only eighth fastest on a low-grip Losail track surface and added that he was struggling with a problem on his RC213V, something he hopes won’t be an issue later in the weekend.
“Today wasn’t our best day. We weren’t able to ride well with the bike, because I had a little issue on corner entry. That’s why we didn’t get better lap times. We hope that things go better tomorrow and that we can get better one-off times again”
Pedrosa was outpaced by his rookie teammate Marc Marquez who was the quickest Honda rider in fourth place. The reigning Moto2 champion was six tenths down on pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo and agrees with Pedrosa that the bike should grow in competitiveness from here on in.
“The truth is that I was a little nervous – above all at the start – but that’s normal. I got over that immediately and set about the practice just like we did in Moto2 last season: Working hard with a focus on the race. I made steady improvement and felt good, which is important at the start but we must remember that this is just the beginning. The grip levels improve a lot during a GP weekend, and thus we will have to keep working on the setup”