The World Championship heads into the closing stages and its penultimate event, before the usual Grande Finale at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste, Valencia, is the exotic Sepang Circuit. With hardly time to rest, this week, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso are taking part in the Malaysian Grand Prix with the good results achieved in Australia as their personal target to beat, as two world champions like them always aim to continue moving forward. In the 125cc category, the Australian event was more complicated for the Repsol riders who, after just a few days rest, now have a new opportunity to recoup.
Between now and the end of the season, Dani Pedrosa’s aim is to achieve a new victory, a result that has been very hard to get this season, but which he will go all out to achieve in order to recover third place in the overall standings. The Repsol rider has finished on the podium in the last three races, but has been unable to find that little bit extra in the set up of his Repsol Honda RC212V to fight head to head for first place. A year ago, he took pole position at the Malaysian circuit and second place in the race, so this season, the Repsol rider will try to reward the efforts of his team with a good performance.
Last year, Andrea Dovizioso finished just behind Pedrosa, achieving his first podium finish in the top category of the world championship in Sepang. After the step forward shown in Australia, the Italian Repsol Honda Team rider arrives at an event as important as Malaysia with boosted morale. The season has not evolved as expected, but as a result of his work and effort, Dovizioso has secured fifth place in the overall standings, behind the ‘magnificent four’ of the category.
In 125cc and with the world champion already decided, the Sepang event will be a new opportunity for the young and promising Repsol riders to prove what they can do. Marc Márquez was the unfortunate victim of the event a year ago, after a dramatic fall in which his right leg got trapped in the chassis of his KTM. This season, he will fight to get back into the leading positions, although he will face a circuit on which he has hardly ridden. The rider who has not even completed one lap of this circuit is his team mate, Cameron Beaubier, who will make his debut on the demanding Malaysian circuit.
Esteve Rabat and Scott Redding arrive at the Malaysian Grand Prix without having completely recovered the pace on their Aprilia RSAs. Although Rabat proved to be regular and consistent over the weekend, a breakdown in the penultimate lap prevented him from finishing the race. On the opposite end of the scale, Redding had a lot of problems completing all of the practice minutes on the track, due to mechanical problems. In the race, however, the English rider felt comfortable once again on his bike, finishing eleventh after an impressive comeback.
Dani Pedrosa
“Sepang is a good circuit and I always look forward to this race. I’ve won here previously with Honda in the 125 and 250 classes, and I’d really like to add a MotoGP win to those victories. It could be tough because we know how fast our rivals have been recently, but still, the win is what we’ll be aiming for as always – and also to challenge Casey for third in the championship. The track has a fast and challenging layout – plus the hot, humid conditions we encounter here always mean this is a physically demanding race for the riders, although we’re well prepared for it. It will certainly be a big contrast to the cold weather conditions we rode in at Phillip Island last weekend. At the moment we are looking to improve the stability of our machine and it’s important that from the first moments of practice we use all the preparation time available to us to arrive at the best possible package for this race.”
Andrea Dovizioso
“I really look forward to racing in Malaysia as this is my favourite track and I have good memories there. Last year I had a strong race at Sepang and scored my first podium in MotoGP on the RC12V for the Scot Honda team. I’m also confident about this weekend because, during the last part of the race in Australia, my feeling with the bike improved a lot, and if we make a good start in practice on Friday I think we can go on to be competitive in the race. As we saw in Australia, it’s so important to secure a good position on the grid if you want to fight for the leading positions. Sepang is an excellent circuit and because of this I enjoy the Malaysian Grand Prix very much. It’s a complete track, with various fast and slow sections, and also the circuit is wide, which lets you try different lines. With a MotoGP bike, it is really fun and it’ll be great to get back out there on Friday.”
Marc Márquez
“I’m not very familiar with the Sepang Circuit, as last year I only rode for 40 minutes. I had time to see what the track was like, but this year, I’m sure that the first free practice will be hard, because I’ve hardly done any laps and you could say that it’s new for me. I liked it quite a lot and it seemed fun, although we’ll have to see how we adapt to the heat.”
Esteve Rabat
“The Malaysian Grand Prix is where I scored for the first time in my life, and the first year went well for me, finishing twelfth. But after that, the following two years I’ve been, it didn’t go so well. We need to concentrate on getting a good set up, to have a fast bike. There, it’s very important how you ride, because it’s a very complicated track, where we’ll have to work hard.”
Scott Redding
“I hope that we can get a good set up, like the one we had in Australia and improve the performance of the engine a little. I hope that we can use all of the track time to practice on Saturday and Sunday, and I’m sure that we can finish in the top ten. It’s a nice circuit, although I remember that I had quite a nasty fall last year. It’s a difficult circuit for me because it’s very hot, but I’m sure that by working hard we can get good results.”
Cameron Beaubier
“I’ve never ridden in Malaysia, so once again, it’ll be a completely new circuit for me. It looks like a really nice circuit, and what’s more, many riders say it is. What I do know for sure is that it’s going to be very hot, so I trust I’ll adapt well. I hope to have a good race and get a few points, because I think we did a good job in Australia and I had the opportunity to do well in that race.”
