Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa is concentrating on getting fully fit before he begins to do some serious work on his RC212V but says his mobility is improving all the time ahead of this weekend's MotoGP clash at Motegi.

The diminutive Spaniard has around ten degrees more movement in his knee but the elbow that was damaged after Pedrosa's collision with Alex De Angelis at Qatar is still giving him some trouble.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend in Japan. My leg is improving all the time and the knee is gaining a little bit more mobility every day. I don’t have the full range of movement yet, but I think that by the time we get to Motegi I’ll have about ten degrees more of movement than in Qatar, which should make quite a big difference," said Pedrosa.

"My elbow is also getting better after the hit De Angelis gave me in Qatar - there’s still some pain and stiffness but I hope it won’t be a problem in Japan. My priority is still to reach full fitness so that I can ride at 100 per cent, and then we must focus on the machine because I missed out on quite a lot of winter testing and we’re still not at the level we’d like to be.

"It’s a case of taking things one step at time - first to get full fitness and then improve the bike step by step. Motegi is a track I like though, and I’ve won races there in the past so I’m looking forward to getting the best result possible at Honda’s home track.”