We talked to the Repsol rider after his first MotoGP tests in Barcelona
After testing in Malaysia, Australia and then again in Malaysia, Dani and his team, the Repsol Honda Team, have been this weekend in Barcelona at the first official MotoGP tests of the 2006 season. The significant weather changes, with cold temperatures and an intense rain shower on Sunday, were not enough to hinder Dani and his team from progressing in the MotoGP class.
Dani, the bad weather spoiled your premiere at home a bit, didn’t it?
‘Yes, it’s been cold and the tyres didn’t get warm enough, and that hindered the bike from having the right reactions, but it’s been a further experience we were missing and it’s been good for the next races, because the conditions are going to be very similar, except in Qatar’.
And on Sunday, the rain finally ruined the Barcelona tests& ‘It was a shame because on Sunday we were hoping to test things we had deeply analysed the day before, but it rained…
‘I actually didn’t want to get into the track under these conditions, very dangerous due to the low temperatures. But in the end I did with twenty minutes left and I made only a few laps because I had not planned to enter the fight for the car. I hope that things work out better in Jerez this week and that we’ll be able to test a few things that are pending, because this will be the last test before the first race’.
The race simulation is still resisting…
‘You’re right! I don’t know what is happening but there is no way to do it, I guess that if we can, we will have to do it the first day in Jerez, or else I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it until the first race’.
Are you curious to do the simulation, to know where you are?
‘More than curious, I’m looking forward to doing it to gather experience, to know what I feel at the end, both physically and on the bike, and to see if my pace drops too much as the laps go by, due to the tyres or my physical shape’.
There were lost days in Malaysia due to the rain, and in Barcelona as well, and there are only three days in Jerez left. Is your team a bit worried for not having done their homework yet?
‘No, because this is just the situation we have now and it’s the same situation everybody has when starting in a new class, so it’s something normal for me. We’ve done several tests so far; then we’ll have the first races and I will have to continue doing my part of learning. I just cannot arrive at the first race knowing the same things as the others who for example, have been racing for five years in the class’.
I guess that it’s important to be able to test now in the venue of the first Grand Prix of the season
‘Sure, it’s always important to test a few weeks before in a circuit we’re are going to race, but you never know if the weather conditions are going to be the same, although they may be very similar. Let’s see if we have good weather both during the tests and the Grand Prix to gather a bit more of experience. Testing in Jerez before the race will be good in order to know the speeds and references of my new bike on this circuit’.
How do you see yourself in these moments of your adaptation process to the class, looking back and starting from that Wednesday 9 November in Valencia, a date that looks so far behind now?
‘I still see myself very far from what I can really achieve. Not as regards results but as regards sensations on the bike. We haven’t fixed a determined position of the handlebars or the footrests and things like that yet. We are in a different circuit and we have found different conditions. I cannot say this is the definitive bike and this is the way I’m going to have it always yet. We are making changes every day and that means that we’re still inexperienced in this class’.
After these first tests in front of the Spanish fans, can you say that you feel any kind of pressure?
‘No, it’s been just another test for me, and what I want to do is to keep on doing my job. It’s true that people are expecting a lot from me, I have felt it because many people came out this weekend and asked me when I’m going to start winning races. The most important for me and my team today is not winning, but moving forward and progressing. Important will be whatever we achieve at the first race and the next, and the next no matter whether it’s good for the public or not. As long as it is good for me, it will be enough for the team and for me’.
What is missing right now to start thinking about being competitive in the new class?
‘Look, for example, there are classes where you can win if you only have talent; there are other classes where you can win just because you have a good bike… But in this class you need talent, a good bike, good tyres, a good team… You need to have everything in its place and experience, a lot of experience, and right now that is exactly what I don’t have’-
Conclusions of Dani Pedrosa after the tests in Barcelona
‘The conclusions are… right now all conclusions are positive for me because this has been the first time I have been lapping with the MotoGP bike on this circuit. If I would come back next week and do it worse, then they would be negative; but it has been my first time here, I changed the circuit. I arrived being used to Malaysia, and the bike did not have the same behaviour as in Sepang, I had been testing for a longer time there& What we have experienced this weekend in Barcelona is what we are going to find this season. At least until mid-year I’ll spend Friday and Saturday of the race discovering new things, because I won’t know the bike well, neither the circuits, because the references have probably changed a lot.’
