FASTEST LAP FOR PEDROSA
01 December 2006 - Moto GP

With an impressive lap time of 1''39.910, he became the fastest rider of these last MotoGP tests before the winter testing ban comes into play on December 1st.

In what may be a telling session before the 2007 season, Honda’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ in 2006, Dani Pedrosa, was able to better five-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi in the final test session of the year held at the Jerez circuit in Spain over the past three days.

With his World Champion teammate Nicky Hayden missing the tests due to a shoulder operation, the Spaniard ousted the Italian Yamaha rider, who had topped the timesheets on the two first test days, with a lap time 1.3 seconds quicker than the best race lap of the 2006 Spanish GP, which was set with 990cc prototypes.

Suzuki continued their good performance in the end of season tests, with Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins in fourth and fifth place respectively, behind Marco Melandri who has showed an excellent adaptation to the new RC212V. New Honda rider Shinya Nakano was sixth fastest ahead of Colin Edwards on the second Yamaha. The returning veteran Alex Barros was the fastest Ducati rider of the day in eighth, ahead of his factory colleagues Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner.

The teams made use of every single minute available to them until the very end of the session in order to gather as much information and data as possible before the ban, which prohibits on-track tests until January 20th. The factories meanwhile will be busy on an intense evolution process behind closed doors, working on their prototypes in order to have everything ready and in the best possible conditions for the first test sessions in Sepang, Malaysia, in January.

The most significant news of the day however, was the heavy crash for Ilmor test rider Jeremy McWilliams this afternoon, causing him multiple injuries. The experienced Northern Irish rider suffered a fracture of his left femur and right collarbone, in addition to serious injuries in the fingers on his left hand. McWilliams was quickly taken to Jerez Hospital where he will undergo surgery on Monday.

Jerez MotoGP Test – Day 3

Lap times supplied by Jerez Circuit Timing

1. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda 1''39.910
2. Valentino Rossi - Yamaha Factory 1''40.123
3. Marco Melandri – Honda Gresini 1’40.524
4. Chris Vermeulen – Rizla Suzuki 1’40.766
5. John Hopkins – Rizla Suzuki 1’41.049
6. Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda 1''41.142
7. Colin Edwards – Yamaha Factory 1''41.254
8. Alex Barros – Pramac d’Antin Ducati1''41.276
9. Loris Capirossi – Ducati Marlboro 1''41.492
10. Casey Stoner – Ducati Marlboro 1''41.595
11. Tadayuki Okada - HRC Test rider 1''43.392
12. Vittoriano Guareschi - Ducati Test rider 1''44.071
13. Jeremy McWilliams - Ilmor 1''44.661
14. Andrew Pitt - Ilmor 1''44.983

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