MotoGP – Pedrosa Revives Honda’s Title Challenge
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa triumphed in the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM at Mugello on Sunday, reviving Honda’s challenge for top honours this season. He wins in fine style, starting from pole position and never looked like relinquishing the lead he held from Turn 1 of the opening lap, finally crossing the finish line 4.014 seconds clear from the rest of the field. Continue reading the photo report and what the riders have to say about Mugello’s race.
Jorge Lorenzo gave the Fiat Yamaha Team a reason to smile in Mugello this afternoon as he brought his M1 home in second position, extending his Championship lead after two wins and two second places so far this season. Lorenzo took to the podium wearing a yellow number 46 shirt as a nod to his team-mate Valentino Rossi, who watched the race from his hospital bed after breaking his leg in practice yesterday. Pedrosa’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso completed the top 3.
Lorenzo wearing a t-shirt with Rossi’s no.46.
Just past the halfway point of the race Pedrosa’s lead had stretched to 7.309s and his fluid rhythm was maintained as he kept edging away from the rest of the pack. Pedrosa’s win became more secure as the final laps counted down, and it was left to Lorenzo and Dovizioso to decide the remaining podium spots.
The Italian Dovizioso passed Lorenzo on lap three but the Mallorcan got his nose back in front three laps later. The pair then remained locked closely together until three-quarter race distance, when Lorenzo managed to stretch his lead to over half a second. The Fiat Yamaha rider continued to open up a slender advantage that he did not surrendered for the remainder of the race. Lorenzo’s lead is now 25 points over Pedrosa in the championship, with the injured Rossi in third.
This was the first time Rossi has not started a race since he began his illustrious career over fourteen years ago in Malaysia at the age of 16, and the Italian holds the record of 230 consecutive starts. He is currently recuperating at the Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico in Florence following surgery to repair his broken right leg.
Dani Pedrosa : “It’s an unbelievable feeling to win again. We’ve been working really hard and we had some problems through the winter and in the first races, so I’m really delighted with this victory, especially after leading at Jerez for so long but not quite making it. It looks like we are back near where we need to be and the team deserves the victory. I had a great feeling on the bike today, especially at the beginning section of the race and I could open up a gap. It’s important that we are competitive now because we have one weekend off and then three races in a row. The next race is at Silverstone which is a legendary track so I hope that we can match this kind of performance there – and also that this part of England has better weather!”
Jorge Lorenzo : “Unfortunately my pace today wasn’t as good as yesterday and I could only finish second; something happened and I couldn’t ride in the same way but in the circumstances I am happy with my result. Anyway Dani had a perfect race today; he had an amazing pace and I don’t know if I could have beaten him even if I had been as fast as yesterday! To take 90 points from 100 is great and I am leading the championship, so I cannot ask for more. I need to make some improvements to my riding style and Yamaha needs to try to improve the power of the bike a bit so we have some things to work on, but I am confident about the next weeks. It was very strange today without Valentino, I am so glad the fans honoured him so well. I wanted to win to dedicate the victory to him but that wasn’t possible so all I can do is say ‘get well soon!”
Andrea Dovizioso : “It’s so special to be on the podium at Mugello in front of my home crowd because I’ve never made the podium in MotoGP here – I always had to watch it on the TV in the garage!. It was a really emotional experience up there with all the fans supporting us. I made a good start and this was really important for my race. I wanted to finish the race fighting with Lorenzo because I think it could have been a good battle on the last lap, but I couldn’t catch him. We are getting closer to the front but we are not quite there yet and we have to take the next step so that we can fight for victories. Three podium finishes is a good start to the season and is very important for the Championship, and it’s thanks to the hard work we’ve done over the winter and in the first races. I’d like to say congratulations to Dani on the win because he had an incredible pace, and this is an extra motivation for us to take that extra step forward so we can fight for the win.”
Loris Capirossi : “This race is less of a disaster that the last two because I didn’t finish them, but I am really annoyed because we just never found the best solution. Today we started with a setting from warm-up but I just never had a feeling in the front and every time I changed direction I thought I was going to lose it. I nearly crashed a couple of times and had to go a bit slower to make sure I didn’t – I don’t want to be racing like that! The whole team works so hard to find the right solution, but unfortunately we’re not finding what we seek. The engine has improved a lot from last year, but we have something in the chassis or settings that is not working well, so we need to quickly discover what that is and fix it.”
Dr. Roberto Buzzi : “Today Valentino underwent another small operation to close the wound, which is looking good. We closed it with 15 stitches and our overall medical judgement is positive. We used a short general anaesthetic and when he woke up he was in good shape. The healing process of the injury is going well and as expected in Valentino’s condition.”
Race Results :
1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 42m 28.066s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Fiat Yamaha Team 42m 32.080s
3. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 42m 34.262s
4. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 42m 53.789s
5. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 42m 53.801s
6. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 42m 54.031s
7. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42m 56.872s
8. Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing 43m 8.238s
9. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m 9.460s
10. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m 10.173s
11. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 43m 11.161s
12. Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar 43m 11.429s
13. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43m 42.459s
14. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m 52.455s
DNF :
15. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing
16. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team ]
DNS :
17. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team
Sunday’s race was held in a glorious sunshine with 76,814 fans baking at trackside in temperatures of over 30ºC. The competing teams now heads back across the English Channel for AirAsia British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday 20th June.
