Repsol British Grand Prix, Donington Park
Race day, Sunday June 22 2008
PEDROSA THIRD FOR REPSOL HONDA,HAYDEN RACES PNEUMATIC-VALVE
ENGINE
Repsol Honda RC212V rider Dani Pedrosa finished a hard-fought
third at Donington Park this afternoon after starting from
ninth on the grid. Team-mate Nicky Hayden rode his first race
with the pneumatic-valve RCV engine and finished seventh after
running in the top four. Weather conditions have been changeable
throughout the weekend here with heavy rain yesterday and
strong winds today. The race was watched by a record 88,000
fans.
Pedrosa enjoyed a storming start, ending the first lap in
fifth place and setting the second fastest lap of the race
as he worked his way forward at a track that doesn’t
make for easy overtaking. The Spaniard enjoyed a great duel
for second place with Valentino Rossi, twice overtaking the
Italian in the mid-stages of the race. Hayden had an even
busier afternoon, battling back and forth with Andrea Dovizioso
(JiR Scot Honda), Chris Vermeulen and others, despite being
distracted by a dash light that came on unexpectedly at one-third
distance. In the later stages Hayden’s pace improved
once again and he finished the race with plenty of data that
will allow the team to improve performance for next Saturday’s
Dutch TT at Assen, the midpoint in the 2008 MotoGP World Championship.
Dani Pedrosa, finished 3rd, 2nd in World Championship
“This has been a difficult weekend with the weather
changing all the time and only one day of dry practice. So,
considering that and the effects of my crash during the tests
at Barcelona I think that finishing on the podium is a good
result for us. I pushed hard today and I really wanted to
get second. Unfortunately, starting from the third row at
a tight track with a short run to the first corner was never
going to be easy. I got a good start, but I got a bit boxed
in through the first corner and I lost some time while I was
behind Dovizioso. Once I got up with Valentino we had a good
battle, made a few passes but I made a couple of mistakes
so I lost the possibility to finish second. My Michelin tyres
worked well today but I struggled a bit through the direction
changes. Anyway, we got some good points for the championship
and we can look forward to getting a better result at Assen
next weekend.”
Nicky Hayden, finished 7th, 7th in World Championship
“We learned a lot this weekend. We could’ve done
with another day in the dry to really understand things. I’m
actually pretty positive, we’ll try to put everything
we’ve learned to good use at Assen. We didn’t
really know what to expect here, everything went smooth until
this morning when we had to switch bikes. The first few laps
of the race went okay and then about lap nine I had a dash
light come on. I didn’t know what it was for, but if
a sensor goes bad you realise just how much you use traction
control, engine braking control and things like that. It was
nothing serious but I lost some confidence for a couple of
laps, so my lap times fell and it upset my rhythm while I
got my confidence back. The guys are looking into it now.
It would’ve been nice to finish higher up, because I’ve
got a lot of English guys in the box. The bike was pretty
consistent at the end and I got back into the 29s. We learned
a lot about fuel, tyre life and so on, we got a lot of information.
We knew the first race might not be easy, so I hope we can
build from here. Thanks to the team and to HRC for all their
hard work.”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager
“We knew it was going to be difficult for Dani, starting
from the third row, but we think he did a good job to fight
for second with Valentino. This year’s championship
is so tough, the level of equipment is so high, so every race
is a real challenge. Of course, we must keep working to improve
the bike for the next races. Nicky rode his first race with
the pneumatic-valve engine and gathered a lot of data which
will help us achieve better performance in the future.”
MOTOGP RACE
1 C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 44'44.982
2 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 5.789
3 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 8.347
4 C. EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 12.678
5 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 14.801
6 J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team + 15.690
7 N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 18.196
8 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 21.666
9 S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 29.354
10 A. WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team + 41.030
11 T. ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 44.426
12 R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 46.199
13 S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 48.731
14 B. SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 49.591
15 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1'22.186
16 M. MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team + 1'30.021
17 J. TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 1 Lap
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 162
2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 151
3 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 117
4 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 104
5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha 82
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP 68
7 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team 57
8 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 53
9 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 51
10 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 49
11 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 48
12 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team 32
13 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 29
14 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team 29
15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 25
16 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 22
17 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team 18
18 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 16
19 Ben SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2
20 Tadayuki OKADA JPN Repsol Honda Team 2
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