British GP. Races
DANI PEDROSA ON THE PODIUM AGAIN AND A BRAVE MARC MÁRQUEZ
GETS HIS FIRST EVER POINTS IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The Repsol Honda Team rider salvages a complicated weekend
with another podium finish that keeps in the hunt for the
world title. The young Márquez gets the first podium
finish of his career, an excellent third position at the difficult
British circuit
The weekend at Donington has not been one of the season`s
easiest. The weather conditions, with heavy rain on the Saturday
and strong winds today Sunday, did not make things easy for
the riders in the World Motorcycling Championship. In spite
of the difficult meteorological conditions Dani Pedrosa was
on the podium again today and is therefore on a very good
run this season, with seven out of eight possible podium finishes
and two victories.
That means that after today he is eleven points behind the
rider who was second today and in first place in the Riders`
Championship, the Italian Valentino Rossi. Pedrosa`s third
position today, behind the Australian Stoner and Rossi, means
that Pedrosa stays in second position in the Riders` Championship
and he can continue to hunt down the current leader.
At the end of the MotoGP race, Dani Pedrosa had words of
praise for the young rider Marc Márquez after his performance
this morning, a Repsol teammate but in 125cc. The reality
is that small Marc Márquez gave everybody a lesson
in bravery today and at the same time he knew what to do on
the complicated British track. With a really uncomfortable
and dangerous wind, above all for somebody as small as he
is, Márquez was able to keep up with the pace set by
the leader and even to fight for second position. In the end
the Repsol KTM Team 125cc rider became the youngest Spanish
rider ever to finish third, and the second-youngest ever to
have done the same in the World Motorcycling Championship.
The youngest is the deceased Venezuelan Iván Palazzese,
15 years and 77 days old, compared to Marc Márquez`s
15 years and 126 days. To round off a great weekend this is
only the Repsol rider`s sixth GP start, as a pre-season fall
in stopped him from participating in the first two races of
his first ever top class season.
In 125cc Julian Simón was not able to confirm the
good sensations that he had had throughout the weekend in
today`s race. The Repsol rider made a good start and was fourth
at the end of the first lap, in a position to fight with the
leading group. Bautista and Simoncelli got away from the rest
at the start and that is when the fight for third position
began. Simón was there for several laps in spite of
the tyre problems that he had had from the beginning. After
ten laps Simón began to lose positions again because
of the pain in his right forearm, this stopped him from concentrating
and staying on the pace. In the end he was eighth, in a race
won by Mika Kallio. The Finnish KTM rider, who has technical
support from Repsol, moved into the lead on the last lap when
a manoeuvre by Simoncelli, trying to overtake Bautista, ended
up with the two riders off their lines. Hiroshi Aoyama, his
teammate, finished fifth.
When the red lights went out in the 125cc race the two Repsol
riders made a good start with Márquez third and Rabat
eighth after the first lap. The Italian Iannone was in the
lead and when Márquez was trying to follow the wheel
of Redding to catch him Gadea overtook him after he made a
mistake, but both of them lost contact with the race leaders.
The Repsol rider fought in the chasing group the whole race
but as the laps clocked up the leader of the World Championship,
Mike Di Meglio, overtook them all and went to hunt the leaders.
Márquez locked onto his rear wheel and little by little
they left their rivals trailing in their wake. With six laps
left Iannone fell and Márquez`s fourth position became
a valuable third. With the slate indicating that his position
was more than acceptable, Márquez did not resign himself
to a podium finish and he moved up to second place on the
penultimate lap. In the end Di Meglio overtook him and the
Repsol rider got his first ever podium finish after a practically
impeccable weekend.
Esteve Rabat did not have as much luck, and in spite of fighting
at the beginning of the race in the same group as his teammate,
saw how a mistake on the twelfth lap made him lose several
seconds. He got back on the track after dropping four positions,
and he moved up to eighth position after a constant battle
in a group that was after seventh position. In the end he
was eleventh under the chequered flag, disappointed not to
have got a better reward after the progress he made in this
GP.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 3rd at 8.347 secs.
“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 >> 7th at 18.196 secs.
“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.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 8th at 18.007 secs.
“The start was good and on the first few laps I was
up there. But I immediately saw that I had a problem with
the back tyre. I tried to keep up with the pace. With ten
laps left I was still in the chasing group, but it became
too difficult to follow them all, and what is more, my arm
problem began to bother me again.
It was difficult to maintain the fast speed and to concentrate.
The other riders passed me and then I had Debón and
Aoyama in front of me. There the race finished. The weekend
has not been so bad since we have been fighting to be in the
leading group the whole weekend. The race was not one of the
best, but we are going to carry on fighting.”
125cc
Marc Márquez >> 3rd at 5.806 secs.
“The race was quite tough because there was a lot of
wind and it was hard work just to stay on the line I wanted.
But I was hungry, confident, and at the start I saw that I
could follow the others. I grew in confidence and I was able
to ride well. I am very pleased, a little over the moon, but
I must now start thinking about Holland, to improve a little
more there.
At the beginning of the race I hit a few riders who were not
on the line. But then, Sergio Gadea had a fright and this
let Iannone and Redding get an advantage of a few metres.
In the group we began to overtake and get in each other`s
way, then they got clean away. Then Mike Di Meglio arrived,
and he began to speed up, I was able to keep up with him and
we left Sergio behind. In the end he was going very fast and
I was not able to follow Di Meglio, but I am very pleased.”
Esteve Rabat >> 11th at 18.976 secs.
“This was a very difficult race, with a lot of fighting
involved. I came out of it well and I was up with the leading
group, until I went off the track on curve number four. There
I lost it as I was not able to get back up with the leaders.
The group behind me caught up with me, there was also a lot
of fighting there. In the end, on the one hand I am pleased,
since we really have taken a step forward here. I have had
a few bad races but here I was able to fight with the best
again. I have got more confidence and taking things step by
step I will be able to continue progressing. Those ahead of
me today were faster than us, it was not a question of mechanics,
and you have to know that you lose sometimes.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 44:44.982
2. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) at 5.789
3. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 8.347
4. Colin EDWARDS (YAMAHA) at 12.678
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (HONDA) at 14.801
7. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 18.196
250cc
1. Mika KALLIO (KTM) 42:14.410
2. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 0.353
3. Álvaro BAUTISTA (APRILIA) at 1.237
4. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) at 8.875
5. Thomas LUTHI (APRILIA) at 11.359
8. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 18.007
125cc
1. Scott REDDING (APRILIA) 41:39.472
2. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) at 5.324
3. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM) at 5.806
4. Sergio GADEA (APRILIA) at 13.990
5. Simone CORSI (APRILIA) at 16.855
11. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 18.976
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