Repsol Honda Team rider, Dani Pedrosa, scored an important victory today in the 11th race of the MotoGP 2010 Championship at the legendary Indianapolis circuit. Pedrosa, starting from fifth on the grid, notched up his third triumph of the season, with an exemplary ride at the US track. Teammate Andrea Dovizioso finished fifth, regaining third place in the overall standings.
Also starting from second row, Dovizioso got away quickly and moved up two places to go second behind a highly motivated Ben Spies. Pedrosa however, who typically makes an explosive start, could only make up one position, and sat fourth behind Nicky Hayden.
Barely one lap later, Repsol Honda Team’s Spanish rider had made it past his ex-teammate, and after a further circuit, had done the same with Dovizioso. Pedrosa began to move faster than anyone else on the track, setting fastest times lap after lap. By the seventh lap he was up with the Yamaha of Ben Spies and went past him on the following end straight. From then on, Pedrosa began to pull away from the field, marching to an undisputed victory, a victory denied him here last year by an unfortunate crash.
With an ultra-consistent ride, Pedrosa managed to keep his concentration on the tricky Indianapolis surface to the end, where US comedian Jay Leno did the honours of flagging him over the finish line.
Meanwhile, Andrea Dovizioso strongly resisted Lorenzo’s attempts to steal third place until, on the 11th circuit, the Spaniard was finally able to pass him. With obvious grip problems, Dovizioso was also unable to fight off Rossi nine laps from the end, and the Italian took advantage of the Repsol Honda Team rider’s problems with the surface. Dovizioso finally had to settle for fifth place.
This result however has allowed Repsol’s Italian rider to move up into third in the standings, one place behind Dani Pedrosa, who with his third victory of the season, has consolidated second place with 183 points.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
“I’m really happy with this win and it was an especially tough one because of the heat today. I didn’t make the perfect start but I was quite quick through the first few tight corners and stayed close to the leaders. My rhythm was good today and even though Spies was strong in front I was able to close him down and make the pass. I’m really pleased with the performance of my bike because it was fast on the straights and also was working well in the corners. When I was out in front it was quite hard to stay focused and at then end of the race I was really tired – but I’m very happy because last year I crashed when I could have won and now I have made up for it. There were many crashes this weekend and it would have been easy to make a mistake in the race – you only need to go a little off line and you can be on the ground immediately, especially towards the end of the race when the tyres are worn. I’ve gone past the barrier of two MotoGP race wins in a season so I’m very happy. We are doing a good job and I hope we can maintain this momentum next weekend at Misano. I want to thank the team and all the people around me”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
“I’m disappointed with this result because I expected to do better this afternoon. The conditions today were really critical. It was so hot – the asphalt was more than 50 degrees! – and the track lacked grip because of it. The result was that I was slower than yesterday. I made a good start and for a while we were close to the podium battle but I didn’t have enough speed to fight as the race progressed. Dani was really fast, he was very strong in the middle of the corner and also his style made the difference today. For two thirds of the race I could fight for the podium, then it was difficult for me to stay with the front guys. I think maybe I need to study how I can improve my position on the bike and my riding style. Now I’m just looking forward to going to Misano – which is my home GP – and I’m back into third in the championship so I have a lot of motivation to get a good result there”.
