Pedrosa: We've done a good job so far

Dani Pedrosa is focused on understanding the best rear tyre choice for Sunday’s Thailand MotoGP after an encouraging opening day for the Repsol Honda rider.

Pedrosa was eighth fastest in free practice with a time in 1m 31.385s, which left him just under three tenths down on Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.

The Spaniard, who will call time on his MotoGP career at the end of this season, said working through Michelin’s tyre allocation was key this weekend, with no prior reference point available as the Chang International Circuit hosts a round of the championship for the first time in Buriram.

“Today we worked especially with the tyre because we won’t know if this tyre stays well in this track, but the track was improving in the afternoon and we had a little better feeling,” said Pedrosa.

“Tomorrow, we still have to work again with the same one. For sure, some bikes will use the same one and some will have to work another tyre, but we need to make all the work we can do with each one because there is no reference for this track. It is important to know as much as we can before the race.

“We managed to try a few of the tyre specs that Michelin brought here because it will be important to find the best compromise between grip, traction and durability. Tomorrow we must continue working on this aspect, but so far I think we’ve done a good job,” he added.

“We’re improving our feeling step by step, and we have to keep up this progression.”