REPSOL HONDA’S PEDROSA TAKES HARD-FOUGHT THIRD
Italian Grand Prix, Mugello
Race day, Sunday June 1 2008
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa rode a gutsy race in today’s
Italian Grand Prix, battling back and forth with reigning
World Champion Casey Stoner and eventually finishing third
aboard his RC212V. Nicky Hayden had high hopes of a strong
race following a promising performance in morning warm-up
but the American ran into difficulties and came home an unlucky
13th.
HRC test rider Tadayuki Okada did a sterling day’s
work with Honda’s new pneumatic-valve-spring RC212V
engine, scoring two World Championship points. Contesting
his first GP in almost eight years, the 41-year-old gathered
a full race of data that will help Pedrosa and Hayden decide
which type of engine they will use at next weekend’s
Catalan GP.
Second quickest in qualifying, Pedrosa got another stunning
start to lead the first two laps then played his part in a
thrilling three-way contest with race winner Valentino Rossi
and Stoner. After slipping to third for a while he moved back
into second during the mid-stages of the race before finally
returning to third place for 16 hard-fought World Championship
points.
After Mugello the MotoGP action switches to Spain for the
following weekend’s Catalan GP outside Barcelona. This
is MotoGP’s busiest period with six races over eight
weekends.
Dani Pedrosa finished 2nd, 2nd in World Championship
“That was a really tough race because Valentino’s
pace was very, very fast. I got a good start and the rhythm
was really high, at first I was able to go with them, then
I had a battle with Casey. I tried to catch him at the end
but it was impossible. It was great to be on the podium, it’s
a good result for the championship, but while consistency
is always important, we need to win more races. The engine
was good today, our main concern now is tyre consistency during
the second part of races. I was losing the front towards the
end of today’s race, so tyres are what we must focus
on. It was very important that Okada finished today, gathering
a lot of data which we will examine and discuss tonight. Valentino
had his seventh win here today, I hope it will be my turn
at Catalunya.”
Nicky Hayden, finished 13th , 9th in World Championship
“This morning we made a nice step, we made a suspension
adjustment and the bike felt a lot better, so we had a pretty
good pace. We were certainly unlucky in the race. I got an
awesome start, felt pretty good, but it was clear from the
beginning that we had a problem. Guys started coming past
and there was nothing I could do, there was no way to defend.
So I just tried to get to the finish and get a couple of points.
They’re checking the data now to see exactly what happened.
Like I said, we were quite unlucky, I knew we didn’t
have Rossi’s pace this morning, but we had enough pace
to be in there, to be quite competitive. I don’t know
yet which engine I’ll be using next weekend. To be honest,
I’ve been concentrating on this race, so I haven’t
thought about it yet.”
Tadayuki Okada, finished 14th, 19th in World Championship
“We finished the race and this was the most important
thing of all – we have gathered plenty of data which
we can now analyse. We still have some issues with edge grip
and this is the next step to improve the engine – the
bike was sliding today so I couldn’t fully use its power.
The engine’s strong point is its higher rev ceiling
which gives an advantage on the straights, but we still need
to improve driveability. My thanks to Repsol Honda and to
HRC for all their work with this engine. It was very exciting
for me to race in a GP again – it felt really amazing
when I crossed the finish line!”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager
“That was a hard race, but Dani fought at the front
and got third, so he did a good job for the championship.
Nicky was unlucky, so now we are checking the data to see
what happened to his machine. We are very happy that Tady
finished the race. We are also looking at his data, later
we will talk to Dani and Nicky to discuss the engine plan
for next weekend’s race. We will never give up –
our target is always to win.”
Race classification
1 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 42'31.153
2 C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team + 2.201
3 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 4.867
4 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 6.313
5 C. EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 12.530
6 J. TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha + 13.806
7 L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 14.447
8 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 15.319
9 S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 15.327
10 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 30.785
11 S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 39.621
12 T. ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 50.021
13 N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 50.440
14 T. OKADA JPN Repsol Honda Team + 58.849
15 A. WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team
World champioship classification Rider
1 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 122
2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 110
3 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 94
4 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 76
5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha 58
6 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 51
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP 44
8 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 43
9 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team 40
10 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 35
11 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 31
12 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team 26
13 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 24
14 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 24
15 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team 24
16 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 18
17 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team 12
18 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 6
19 Tadayuki OKADA JPN Repsol Honda Team 2
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