The first day of free practice at Laguna Seca finished with Dani Pedrosa topping the time sheets.

Pedrosa fully utilised his new specification RC213V with updated engine and chassis to lap three-tenths under the circuit record. His best lap time was 1'21.088, while Stoner, who also worked with the new engine but mounted on the 'standard' chassis, recorded a fastest lap of 1'21.457.

Dani Pedrosa

"We did a good job today, we managed to get a good lap time in the morning and improved it in the afternoon, although the grip level was very poor and we struggled a bit with the rear. The tyres were working a little better in the afternoon, but it was hard to work on the consistency due to the lack of grip. I hope to be able to work on the pace tomorrow to prepare the race. The new bike is working good here, I will continue working on the set up tomorrow."

Casey Stoner

"It hasn't been a particularly eventful day, we didn't really get the package we were hoping for. We struggled a little this morning with stability on the soft tyre; we improved it slightly this afternoon on the hard tyre but found the bike to be quite aggressive and there wasn't much grip. We have a few things to try tomorrow morning; if we can make some small improvements then we'll be very happy with the bike. As it is now, we need to improve before we can say if we're competitive or not."

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