Positive practice for Toseland

Tech 3 Yamaha’s James Toseland has made a positive start to the fifth round of the 2008 MotoGP series with promising lap times in today’s free practice at Le Mans. The British rider has never raced at the French circuit before, so he took advantage of the two sessions to get to grips with the track’s 2.597-mile layout.

Toseland made a strong start in the morning practice. He quickly adapted to the characteristics of the track and was even posting the fifth fastest time during the session. At the end of the hour, the Isle of Man resident’s best time of 1’35.874 (tenth) was just 1.228 seconds adrift of timesheet topper Dani Pedrosa and ahead of more experienced campaigners including Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri.

For the afternoon, the team made some alterations to the bike’s suspension set-up. However, the changes weren't as successful as expected and although Toseland improved his best lap time from the morning practice to 1’35.848, he was the 15th fastest rider overall.

“I’m pleased with how everything has gone today,” says Toseland. “Le Mans is a track I don’t know so well, but it is the team’s home circuit, so our priority was for me to learn the layout ahead of the qualifying session. We’ve had two promising dry practice sessions, despite the forecast being wet, and I feel confident for tomorrow. I guess that’s the main thing.”

Keep up to date with Toseland’s progress at the French Grand Prix on his new website www.jamestoseland.com.

Practice results
1. D. Pedrosa 1’34.227; 2. C. Stoner +0.049; 3. C. Edwards 0.060; 4. J. Lorenzo +0.260; 5. C. Vermeulen +0.403; 6. V. Rossi +0.732; 7. S. Nakano +0.820; 8. R. de Puniet +0.846; 9. J. Hopkins +0.906; 10. A. de Angelis +1.012; 15. J. Toseland +1.621