This Sunday, the Italian Grand Prix has witnessed another masterly performance from Dani Pedrosa, who has claimed his first win of the season in the Italian Grand Prix. Winner of the pole position yesterday, the Repsol rider had no rivals and dominated the race from the start to the chequered flag. His team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, had a fantastic race, climbing five positions in the first lap to finish in a hard-fought third place in front of all of his tiffosi.
The over 76,000 fans that filled the green banks of the Mugello circuit today were able to witness another display from a stratospheric Dani Pedrosa. He warned of his abilities yesterday, when he clocked up the best time in the qualifying, repeating this position in this morning’s warm-up and as soon as the red lights went out today, he left his rivals with no options.
The Repsol rider did not hesitate and was at the front of the pack by the first turn. As precise as a clock, Pedrosa destroyed the stopwatch in the first few laps, setting a pace that nobody could follow. His constant 1 minute 49 second laps allowed him to open a gap, while his rivals tried in vain to follow him. Lap after lap, the Spanish rider was the fastest of all the riders on the track, also setting a new circuit record in lap five. He continued to ride with a consistently above that of any rival, riding with an advantage of more than six seconds over his pursuers after half the race. With an advantage of almost eight seconds in the final third of the race, the Repsol Honda Team rider started to manage his advantage until he passed under the chequered flag, euphoric with the tremendous job done. Victory secured and second in the overall standings, 25 points behind the leader, Jorge Lorenzo.
Andrea Dovizioso was no less ecstatic, as after starting eighth, he had a perfect start, riding fourth by the end of the straight. He passed Stoner just a few turns later and climbed to third, wheel to wheel with Jorge Lorenzo. Just a few laps later, he saw off Lorenzo and kept up a fast pace trying to follow the trail of his team-mate Pedrosa. Today, nobody was able to catch Pedrosa, so during the rest of the race, the Italian battled with Lorenzo for second place on the podium. Riding at less than a second behind Lorenzo, Dovizioso could not beat the Spaniard, ending in a valuable and hard-fought third place, with which the Repsol Honda Team has put both of its riders on the primer class podium once again. Thanks to this third place, Dovizioso is now fourth in the overall standings, 32 points behind Lorenzo and seven behind his team-mate Pedrosa.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to win again and I’m so happy for myself and the Repsol Honda Team. We’ve been working really hard and had some problems through the winter and in the first races, so I’m really delighted with this victory, especially after leading at Jerez for so long but not quite making it. It looks like we are back near where we need to be and the team deserves the victory. I had a great feeling on the bike today, especially at the beginning section of the race and I could open up a gap. To be honest I didn’t see who was behind me, I just looked for the gap on my pit board and tried to ride consistently. It’s important that we are competitive now because we have one weekend off and then three races in a row. The next race is at Silverstone which is a legendary track so I hope that we can match this kind of performance there – and also that this part of England has better weather! I’d like to thank the team, and also the fans here for pushing for Valentino because he’s having a hard time and everyone in the paddock wishes him well”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
“It’s so special to be on the podium at Mugello in front of my home crowd because I’ve never made the podium in MotoGP here – I always had to watch it on the TV in the garage! It was a really emotional experience up there with all the fans supporting us. I made a good start and this was really important for my race. I wanted to finish the race fighting with Lorenzo because I think it could have been a good battle on the last lap, but I couldn’t catch him. We are getting closer to the front but we are not quite there yet and we have to take the next step so that we can fight for victories. Three podium finishes is a good start to the season and is very important for the championship, and it’s thanks to the hard work we’ve done over the winter and in the first races. I’d like to say congratulations to Dani on the win because he had an incredible pace, and this is an extra motivation for us to take that extra step forward so we can fight for the win”.
