Daily Update MotoGP

Dani Pedrosa beat his championship rivals to snatch pole position ahead of tomorrow's French MotoGP at Le Mans.
The Honda rider managed a superb effort right at the last second to sneak ahead of the three men who are currently in front of him in the points standings.
The Spaniard's time of 1m33.974s beat Jorge Lorenzo's (Yamaha) by the tiny margin of 0.005 seconds, followed by Casey Stoner's Ducati a further seven hundredths behind completing the front row.

Championship leader Valentino Rossi, on the second works Yamaha, was never a proper threat for pole, managing to lead the session only in the first quarter of an hour. Ultimately he had to settle for fourth, 0.132s behind Pedrosa.
Andrea Dovizioso managed a fifth spot on the grid with his Honda, followed by Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), who led proceedings in the middle part of the session, and the Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi.
Marco Melandri will start the race from ninth position after the Italian lost the front of his Hayate Kawasaki at the half-hour mark, crashed and tumbled. His left hand was slightly hurt when it got caught under the handlebar, but he was able to resume riding after walking back to the pits.
Randy de Puniet completes the top ten despite a crash with his LCR Honda with only seven minutes of the session gone.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m33.974s
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m33.979s + 0.005s
3. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m34.049s + 0.075s
4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m34.106s + 0.132s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m34.300s + 0.326s
6. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m34.330s + 0.356s
7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m34.676s + 0.702s
8. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m34.839s + 0.865s
9. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki 1m35.008s + 1.034s
10. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m35.399s + 1.425s
11. Toni Elias Gresini Honda 1m35.431s + 1.457s
12. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1m35.524s + 1.550s
13. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m35.682s + 1.708s
14. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m35.741s + 1.767s
15. Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda 1m35.774s + 1.800s
16. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda 1m35.785s + 1.811s
17. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati 1m36.136s + 2.162s

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Troy Bayliss says he will test for Ducati again within the next two months after pleasing the team with his contribution to its work at Mugello this week.
The triple Superbike world champion was drafted in as Ducati worked to make its bike more 'rider-friendly' and to get all five of its entries near the front of the field.

So far this year, Stoner has been Ducati's only podium contender, for while Pramac's Mika Kallio has had some impressive rides, the Finn's team-mate Niccolo Canepa, Stoner's team-mate Nicky Hayden, and Hernando Ducati rider Sete Gibernau have all struggled to get beyond the midfield.
Bayliss said he had been pleased with his pace and to assist Ducati, but emphasised that a comeback was definitely not on his agenda.
"I've had three good days during which I've felt like a rider again", said Bayliss. "It didn't take long to get back into it but, before anyone gets any ideas, I will also say that I'm happy to be heading back to the airport and towards Australia and home this evening: I have no intention of returning to racing.
"Having said that, I have had fun and I hope at the same time that I've been of use to [technical director] Filippo [Preziosi]. We worked each day on the bike and each day I was able to push harder, until I started to record some respectable times.
"Now I'll stay home for a while but later in June or July I'll be back in Europe for a few weeks. I will probably test the bike again during that time, I don't know exactly when, but I am very happy to play a part in this project."
Bayliss eventually got down to a 1m51.2s lap - just over a second off the best race lap at Mugello last year, and 0.2 seconds faster than the team's test rider Vittoriano Guareschi managed during the sessions.
Preziosi said Bayliss had definitely helped the team towards its goal of making the GP9 suit all its riders.
"Working with Troy has been useful because he has a very different riding style to Vittoriano," said Preziosi, "and so it's been interesting and beneficial to hear his impressions of the GP9 also.
"We worked on chassis set-ups that are pretty different from those which we usually use and the results were promising, although we need to look at this further."
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Jorge Lorenzo is confident that he can make up for his Spanish Grand Prix error when the MotoGP championship resumes at Le Mans this weekend.
The Yamaha rider followed up his Motegi win with a staggering pole lap at Jerez, only to fall back to fourth in the race and then crash out.
That meant he fell from the lead of the standings to third place, 24 points behind his series-leading team-mate Valentino Rossi.

Lorenzo believes it is now vital that he gets a good result in France to get his title bid back on course.
"Le Mans is the next stop and the first after my crash in Jerez," said the Spaniard. "I was very sad about what happened there but now it is another story, everything begins again and I must try to do things step by step.
"The team and I need to improve after Jerez and main target is to get back on the podium. I am fit and I like Le Mans."
He said his performance in France last year, when he raced with a broken ankle after a Shanghai accident but still shrugged off practice and qualifying crashes, and an awful start, to come through to second, gave him a lot of confidence for the race.
"I have had some difficult times there, and last year wasn't easy because I crashed twice during the weekend, but in the end the result was good," said Lorenzo.
"I've been on the podium in each category and I will remember forever the incredible (all) Yamaha podium of last year. It was amazing. I can see now Valentino, Colin (Edwards) and I enjoying the moment with all the Yamaha people smiling. I hope this year we can repeat that moment.
"I will also remember that podium because it's the only one where I was on crutches!"
His team manager Daniele Romagnoli is also optimistic that Lorenzo can get over the Jerez disappointment with a great result in France.
"Le Mans was very good for us last year, especially considering that Jorge was not in great physical condition," he said.
"Jerez was a great disappointment but now we're keen to move on to France and hopefully we will be able to forget the bad memory from Spain. Le Mans generally suits our Yamaha very well so we hope that we can make the most of it."
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