Donington Park said farewell to MotoGP with some typical British weather, dull, overcast and with intermittent light rain, something that had also affected the 125cc race. The track was dry when the race started but everybody had to keep one eye on the sky, this allowed Toni Elías to move into the lead, but he was closely followed by Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Rossi & Dovizioso. The two Repsol Honda Team riders both had good starts although Pedrosa, 3rd on the first few laps began to lose steam and dropped down to 6th whilst Dovizioso was 4th behind Rossi.
The first few laps were completed in light rain with Elías in the lead with Lorenzo, Rossi and Dovizioso just behind him. Dani Pedrosa fought back and moved up one place and on the lap 3 Dovizioso moved into the lead ahead of Lorenzo and Pedrosa who had got past Rossi. With light showers the riders at the front changed positions more than a few times but on lap 6 Jorge Lorenzo tried to get away. In his wake Pedrosa, and Dovizioso, who eventually overtook his teammate one lap later. On lap 9 Lorenzo fell when taking the chicane and he was out of the race. Rossi was then the leader with Dovizioso second close behind, but Pedrosa was falling off the pace in 3rd position. Dani`s tyres did not have the right temperature and bit by bit he lost sight of the leaders and at the same time a very fast De Puniet was catching him up.
On lap 11 De Puniet was fighting with Pedrosa for 3rd place. After several overtakings and great resistance from the Spaniard Randy De Puniet got past him and opened up a gap.
At the front Dovizioso was tucked in behind Rossi and the two Italians were alone fighting for the victory. More rain came, this time a bit heavier and riding with dry tyres became extremely delicate. Proof of this was a fall for Rossi on lap 20, a very rare occurrence. From then on the Italian rider in the Repsol Honda Team was in the lead and he held onto it for the rest of the race. De Puniet and Colin Edwards, who had also overtaken Pedrosa moved closer and closer to Dovizioso on the final laps but the Italian knew how to protect his lead and got his first ever victory in MotoGP, and his first defending the colours of the Repsol Honda Team.
Dani Pedrosa fell down to 9th after seeing that he was incapable of stopping other riders on wet tyres from getting past him, he had enough on his hands just staying upright on his bike. The riders now have their three week summer break, Pedrosa will now have time to improve his physical condition, something he could not do in the pre-season because of his injuries. This will allow him to go to the next race, in the Czech Republic fit enough to fight for another victory alongside his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
Dani Pedrosa, 9th at 42.112 secs. >> Audio
“First I have to congratulate Andrea on his win because he rode a great race from beginning to end in very difficult conditions. For me, the result today is obviously disappointing and the team because I have been fast all weekend and I couldn’t keep that up during the race. At the beginning I was feeling good on the Bridgestone slicks and was able to judge my pace well according to the conditions. As the rain came however, I couldn’t maintain the temperature in the tyres and when this happens the grip really goes away and I wasn’t able to control the bike as I wanted. On the grid I was sure my tyre choice was correct, but with 10 laps to go I thought that maybe I should go into the pits and change to wets, but it wasn’t worth losing 20 seconds for the bike change because the lap times of the riders on the wet tyres were the same as the times on slicks. It was a frustrating race in strange conditions, but we’ll still have confidence going into the next race in Brno because we’ve been making progress recently and I’m feeling strong on the bike”.
Andrea Dovizioso, 1st, 49’26.267 secs. >> Audio
“It’s a fantastic feeling to win my first MotoGP race because this is the top series in the world with the best riders and so to win is a fantastic emotion. I’m very pleased with my performance today as the conditions were so difficult. It was like three different races – riding hard at the start when it was nearly dry, following Valentino as it got wetter, and then judging the pace once I was in front. I rode well in every section and managed the very tricky situation, so it’s really satisfying. This is also important for my confidence after the last three races. In the first three laps I took a lot of risks to maintain my position with the leaders because the tyres need two or three laps to get up to temperature. Once I was following Valentino it was quite easy because it’s not so difficult to follow someone in these conditions since the leader has to judge where it’s wet and where it’s dry. But when he fell it was clear from his crash that the tyres were very cold and this was scary because now I had to set the pace. Colin and Randy closed the gap quickly in the last five laps and at this point I was being careful and wasn’t pushing to the limit, but in the final two laps I pushed as hard as I could and they weren’t able to get close enough to try and pass. I’m so happy with this win, and we’ll use it to move forward. The important thing is to fight with the best riders in normal dry conditions so me and the team will work really hard to repeat this victory in the dry”.
