Zoom Colin Edwards

The Tech 3 Yamaha team made a fast start to its home race at the historic Le Mans circuit in France today with Colin Edwards posting the third fastest time in the opening free practice sessions.

The American's best time of 1.34.287 was just 0.060s behind fastest rider Dani Pedrosa as Edwards conducted positive endurance testing on Michelin tyres in overcast but dry conditions. Edwards led the session for a long period as he moved to the top of the timesheets after just 16 minutes. It was over 30 minutes later before he was overhauled in the closing minutes, but the Tech 3 rider was happy with a significant improvement in rear grip helped by a set-up change he first tried in China.

Today's result boosted Edwards' confidence of extending his impressive record at the Le Mans circuit. The 4.185km track has been a happy hunting ground for Edwards, who scored the first pole position of his career in Le Mans a year ago. The circuit was also the scene of his first Yamaha podium in 2005.

James Toseland was 15th fastest on a difficult first day for the British rider. Le Mans is the third in a run of five tracks that Toseland has no previous experience of, and he spent the majority of today mastering the circuit, while also trying to optimise the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine. He clocked a best time of 1.35.848, but is confident that overnight set-up changes to find more rear grip will help move him much further up the field tomorrow.

Colin Edwards 3rd 1.34.287 – 48 laps
“It's a case of so far so good. I got my first pole position here and my first podium for Yamaha but we have yet to win one so that's what we need to focus on. I kept the China set-up that was a bit foreign for us there just to play around with it and it works really good here too, and I think we have already got a race tyre. My best lap was on the 16th lap of a race tyre and I did 25 laps on another rear tyre, so we have pretty much got a race tyre sorted which is good and I'm not stressing about that at all. The biggest thing we have been concentrating on is traction. In the first three races we never had a problem with traction and in China we had a big problem. So with the big change we made in China it is working better. I tried the standard setting first this morning but as soon as I went to the China set-up I was faster immediately. The bike is a bit more nervous and twitchy under acceleration and I don't feel as smooth as I normally do, but I've got traction. If we can save the tyre by not spinning it as much and actually getting load on it and getting grip then I don't mind it moving around a bit. When I came here for the first time in 2003 I hated this place with a passion, but since I joined Yamaha I really clicked with it. The handling characteristics of the bike really help at this track. This is obviously the team's home race and I'm desperate to put on a good show for them, and today was a good start.”