ALCANIZ, Spain: Motorcycling legend Valentino Rossi completed two practice sessions on Friday for the Aragon Grand Prix, a mere 21 days after surgery on a double leg fracture.
The 38-year-old Italian was back on his Yamaha in half the forecast time normally needed to recover from such an operation.The nine-time world champion, given the all-clear to take part after passing a mandatory medical examination at the MotorLand Aragon circuit, took it easy in the opening session staged in wet conditions.
He completed seven laps to test his fitness, returning for the second session in which he managed another 13 laps as he bids to line up in Sunday’s race.Honda rival Dani Pedrosa topped the combined timesheets, the 2012 winner in Aragon posting a fastest lap of 1min 59.858sec, the only rider to duck under the two-minute mark. Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo was second on the day at 0.214sec with Yamaha Tech’s Johann Zarco and Honda’s Marc Marquez next best.
