The Malaysian Grand Prix weekend fired into life this afternoon with an hour of MotoGP free practice in typically tropical conditions at the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur. The Repsol Honda Team made a positive start to the penultimate round of the 2009 season, with Dani Pedrosa clocking the third fastest lap and Andrea Dovizioso finishing fifth in the rankings. With air temperatures climbing into the thirties and humidity at over 50 per cent, it was a hot afternoon’s work for the factory Honda squad.

Pedrosa was fast out of the blocks today and spent the entire session at the business end of the timesheets. Working with his team on the ideal machine set-up and on narrowing the options for tyre selection, the 24-year-old Spaniard was able to set a lap time of 2m 02.758s, just over half a second behind today’s fastest rider, Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa has taken pole position for the last two years at Sepang and will be keen to make it three poles in a row during tomorrow’s qualifying session, which follows another hour of practice in the morning. Pedrosa’s RC212V was fastest through the speed traps today with top speed of 309.5km/h (192.3mph).

Dovizioso’s best lap of 2m 03.142 was just 0.384s behind Pedrosa and clearly indicated the Italian’s intentions to fight at the front of the pack this weekend. Riding with impressive commitment and aggression at the longest circuit on the MotoGP calendar, Dovi was evidently enjoying himself, and he remains confident of moving further forward tomorrow. Dovizioso secured his first MotoGP podium at this circuit last year and will be looking to battle at the sharp end again come Sunday’s race, which begins at 15.00hrs local time (GMT + 8 hours).