Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa will commence the second part of the 2008 MotoGP season in tomorrow's Czech Grand Prix from the fourth row of the grid.

The Spaniard was 12th quickest in this afternoon's qualifying session, run on a rain-soaked racetrack.

This morning's practice session was also run in the wet, though the rain was heavier this afternoon and intensified as the session went on, the track waterlogged in several places by the time the chequered flag came out. Like most riders, Pedrosa rode his fastest lap in the earlier stages when there was less surface water.

Pedrosa, still suffering from the broken left wrist and index finger he sustained at last month's German GP, was cautious in the treacherous conditions, determined not to risk a fall that might exacerbate his injuries. His team-mate Nicky Hayden is missing this race due to a foot injury sustained during an X Games Supermoto event in Los Angeles two weeks ago.

Despite today's conditions, the forecast for tomorrow is much better – warm and overcast, with only a small chance of further rain.

Dani Pedrosa

“I wore a heavier strapping on my left hand today, for better support, but anyway the cold weather gave me more pain. The track was very wet this afternoon. I tried to improve my lap time, even though the rain got heavier, but I couldn't improve, so I will start the race from the fourth row. Of course, I'm not happy about starting from there, because it won't help us in the race. If the race is run in the dry I hope we will have a dry warm-up so that we can work on our suspension set-up and tyre choice. If it is dry in the morning we will work hard to make improvements so we can have the best-possible race.”

Kazuhiko Yamano

“Dani rode very sensibly today, the big thing is that he didn't fall. It is always easy to fall in the rain, so he was riding a little more conservatively than usual because he didn't want to risk further damage to his left hand and wrist. We made some small improvements to the machine today but it was a shame that we didn't get any dry track time. We expect better tomorrow. For the race, we have already adjusted the machine to get him more front-end confidence from the front tyre.”

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