MotoGP News
Date: 19/October/2012
Dani Pedrosa continued his strong run of form by leading MotoGP practice at Sepang in Malaysia, but two other Friday factors could heavily influence his title hopes.
Pedrosa is lagging 28-points from Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo with just three races and 75 points to go. And whilst Pedrosa has won four of the past five events, Lorenzo has finished no lower than second, thwarting the Honda rider’s Championship chances.
Yet there are two reasons to believe that the shake-up at the front Pedrosa so desperately needs could happen this Sunday at Sepang.
The first is the notorious Malaysian weather, which produces tropical storms almost every afternoon.
That is exactly what happened on Friday, ruling the second practice session meaningless. And with the race delayed until 4pm on Sunday - to better suit European TV viewers - the chances of wet weather has increased even further.
Speaking after practice, Pedrosa said: “We've been lucky to have morning practice in the dry to begin setting up the bike for the race, because as we've seen in the last few days sooner or later it rains here.”
The other factor is the form of Casey Stoner, the reigning double MotoGP World Champion who will retire at the end of this year and whose own title chances were scuppered by ankle injuries at Indianapolis.
Stoner finished fifth on his return last Sunday at Motegi, but looks much more threatening at Sepang, where he finished between Pedrosa and Lorenzo in free practice.
Stoner said: "I definitely feel more comfortable here than I did in Japan, I'm not sure if this is time on the bike or the fact that this track isn't quite so demanding on my right leg.
“There aren't so many slow corners that I need to pick the bike up from and I'm getting a better feeling here so the lap times came easier.
“We still have quite a bit of work to do and I don't think we are anywhere near the pace that we need to be, but the first session went very well and hopefully we can continue in this way for the remainder of the weekend.”
Honda and Stoner insist there will be no team orders to help Pedrosa. That is unlikely to concern Pedrosa too much and he will simply be grateful that another rider is capable of fighting Lorenzo.
Both factors - the weather and Stoner - could work for or against Pedrosa, but at this stage he probably has more to gain than lose should they come into play.
After all, even if Pedrosa wins all three remaining races, Lorenzo could afford to finish third in each and still be champion.
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