The objective of the Repsol rider is to try to make it to the Australian Grand Prix, although he is leaving the door open for travelling to Malaysia, where Andrea Dovizioso will be doing battle to again be on the podium and Marc Márquez will be looking to regain the lead of 125cc category.
Two days after being discharged from hospital, Dani Pedrosa continues to progress favourably after the fracture to his left collarbone incurred last Friday. With his sights set on the Australian Grand prix in fifteen days time, the Repsol rider is not ruling out a slight possibility of travelling to Malaysia. His team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, arrives at Sepang with his spirits restored by the podium won in Japan, a prize which he will try to repeat this weekend, when Marc Márquez will again mount a new assault for the 125cc title.
With hardly any margin between the Japanese and Malaysian races, Dani Pedrosa has decided not to risk a hasty return to the track. The Repsol rider has set himself the objective of a comeback at the Australian Grand Prix, although there is a slight chance that he will travel to Malaysia. One week after fracturing his left collarbone and undergoing surgery last Saturday to set it with a titanium plate, Pedrosa began functional rehabilitation on Monday and is making positive progress, as confirmed by the medical check which Dr. Xavier Mir performed today, Wednesday.
His Repsol Honda team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, will be looking to again be up on the podium in Malaysia after last Sunday’s good result at Motegi. The Repsol rider, very consistent at the start of the season, is still set on his aim to fight for a win which this year has eluded him, despite having shown a progressive improvement in his performance on the Repsol Honda RC212V. It will be a circuit with bittersweet memories for the Repsol rider who, although could not complete the race last year, won his first premier class podium position there two season ago.
In the 125cc’s, Marc Márquez will have another opportunity to regain the lead of the category, having clocked up his seventh win of the season just three days ago in Japan. Overcoming at Motegi, in impeccable form, the bad luck which struck in Aragón, the Repsol rider arrives at the fourteenth meeting of the year motivated by hard work to continue winning points which will permit him to keep hold of his aspirations to the 125cc World Championships.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
“I am still very stiff in my neck and across the back of my shoulders, so the target is to get back to racing in Australia. There is a very small possibility of going to Malaysia, but the realistic target is Australia. I had another check-up today and it shows clearly that the plate on my collarbone is very well fixed and the progress has been good after the operation. My condition has improved over the last two days and I’m doing passive rehabilitation with my physiotherapist at the moment. I am still not able to move the arm by myself but with massage it’s getting better. It’s a real pity that this happened when we had such a lot of momentum with our results, but we simply have to deal with it”.
Andrea Dovizioso
“I’m really looking forward to the Malaysian Grand Prix. We arrive in a strong condition after not only an important podium finish in Motegi last Sunday, but also an entire race weekend where we were fast and consistent during every session. We made some good progress with the electronics and the machine set-up through the weekend, and so we arrive in Sepang in even better shape than Motegi. Our performance last weekend was the result of hard work – it was not by chance – and in Malaysia we can do even better. I really like the Sepang race track – it’s one of my favourites and I have had good results in all GP classes, including my first MotoGP podium in 2008. I like Sepang because it is a ‘complete’ circuit with a nice combination of fast and slow sections, and also the circuit is wide so you can use different lines. All in all I’m very confident we can have another strong weekend”.
