Bittersweet day at the Misano circuit, on which an extraordinary Dani Pedrosa commanded MotoGP with authority, while it was known, during the premier class race, that the 19 year old Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa had died, after an accident in the Moto2 class. In the sporting aspect, Pedrosa did not give his rivals any options, who watched him break away towards his fourth win of the season. Andrea Dovizioso, after climbing four positions and improving his performance compared to yesterday’s qualifying, finished fourth after battling for third with Valentino Rossi.
When the lights went out, the best Dani Pedrosa off the starting line was back and without giving his rivals any options, led the pack through the first turns in front of Stoner and Lorenzo. Andrea Dovizioso, who started eighth, negotiated the dangerous first section of the Italian track well and climbed two positions, before passing Colin Edward’s Yamaha and finishing the first lap in fifth. With the Italian duel between Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi served, the Italian crowd watched how Dani Pedrosa extended his advantage over the chasing group tenth by tenth.
In the second lap, the Spanish Repsol Honda Team rider had already achieved a time under one minute and 35 seconds, imposing a pace that his rivals were unable to match. Fast lap after fast lap, Pedrosa pulled away towards his second win in a row, the fourth in the season, a number which he achieves for the first time since he has been competing in the premier class. With the fastest lap of the race in the seventh lap, the Repsol rider completed a perfect weekend on a sporting level, in which he achieved pole position, fastest lap and victory.
Today, Andrea Dovizioso has taken an important step forward at the Misano circuit and after working intensively with the team yesterday evening, he significantly improved the set-up and performance of his Honda RC212V. In this morning’s warm-up, Dovizioso showed signs of having considerably improved the set-up of his machine, setting the third best time behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo, just two-tenths behind his team-mate. In the race, the Italian Repsol Honda Team rider was left on the threshold of the podium after finishing fourth behind fellow Italian Valentino Rossi, who he had pursued relentlessly for almost the entire race after managing to constantly ride at one minute and 34 seconds, something he had been unable to do all weekend.
With this result, the Repsol Honda Team riders strengthen their positions in the standings, with Dani Pedrosa second and Andrea Dovizioso third.
Due to the tragedy that occurred at the San Marino track today, the podium ceremony was held with the flags representing the countries of the first three riders flown at half-mast and without champagne. The Repsol Honda Team wishes to pass on its deepest sympathy to the family, friends and relations of Shoya Tomizawa, and to everyone who works in MotoGP and the fans, for such a terrible loss.
Dani Pedrosa, 1st, 44’22.059 sec.>> Audio >> Audio (cat)
“There are no words to say how it feels after this victory – it feels like nothing. I arrived at parc fermé very happy with the win and I immediately felt that the atmosphere among my mechanics was really strange, everybody was serious. Still with my helmet on they told me about Tomizawa and I couldn’t react. It was a big shock, a big contrast for me. I asked three times if it was true because I couldn’t believe it. It’s so sad, terrible, and these things should never happen. As a person I can only say that he was a very funny boy, always happy and making jokes, and as a rider he earned respect from everybody in a very short time, he was fast and brave. To lose two riders in a week is terrible. I believe everybody in the World Championship is feeling the same now and I want to send my condolences to the family. When you are born, life gives you the chance to choose what you want to do. Tomi chose to be a rider and in fact he was doing great. I just want to think that he’s been happy making his dream come true. Concerning the race, I want to say thank you again to my team for doing a great job. The whole weekend has been perfect: good practices, a very high pace during the race, and the second win in a row and the fourth of the season. I want to keep my feet on the ground though and just concentrate on one race at a time. The feeling on the bike is very good now and my goal is to continue in this way. But to be honest I’m not really thinking about that at this moment”.
Andrea Dovizioso, 4º a 6.454 seg. >> Audio
“My thoughts are with Shoya Tomizawa. I was informed after the race and the news is like a slap in the face. Two tragic accidents in two races is so terrible and it reminds us how dangerous is our job. The safety commission has improved safety levels so much that we often forget this aspect. I’m so sorry for Tomizawa’s family. Having become a father I can understand that this is the worst thing that can happen for a family. Unfortunately we couldn’t do anything: these were two casualties, two accidents with a similar dynamic where the track-side barriers were not touched. This can happen and this is why our job is so risky. Concerning the race, we did the maximum. The race weekend was so complicated but we succeeded in turning the bad results from qualifying into a good race. I’m not happy with the 4th position though because our target was the podium. Today the bike was working better and I also improved my riding – I rode differently from qualifying. We could race with a high pace and this is the important point. I was pushing so hard and, especially in the middle of the race, me and Valentino were putting in really fast lap times. I tried to catch Rossi but in the end I couldn’t make it. We will start for the next race from here: we were fast and now we need concrete results”.
