With the wins achieved in Mugello still fresh in the minds of fans, this weekend, the Repsol riders arrive in Great Britain mentally prepared for a weekend of hard work at one of the two new circuits on this season’s World Championship calendar: Silverstone. However, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Márquez will have the extra boost to their spirits from the results they achieved in Italy to battle again for the leading positions.
Lifted to second place in the World Championship, Dani Pedrosa’s win in the Italian Grand Prix confirms that the Repsol rider is one of the main contenders for the title. After Valentino Rossi’s serious injury, who is always a candidate to renew his title, the fight at the top of the World Championship lost a tough contender, an opportunity that Dani Pedrosa did not miss to reassert his candidature. Getting more comfortable in the saddle of his Honda RC212V every day, the Repsol rider is mentally prepared for the hard work waiting for the entire team in England to stay consistent in the championship.
On the other side of the garage, the motivation after Andrea Dovizioso’s good start to the season allows the Italian to tackle the British event with the hope of putting in a good weekend. The Repsol rider has finished three out of the four races held on the podium and the balance found in the heart of the Repsol Honda Team have allowed him to take the quality step forward he hoped for. Now, his goal is to go up a step and not only fight for the podium, but for the highest of the three steps, the winner’s.
In 125cc, Marc Márquez reaches the British Grand Prix fully recovered from the injury to his shoulder and brimming with confidence after achieving his first World Championship victory. In his third World Championship season, the seventeen year old rider has become the centre of attention. Performances like that two Sundays ago in Mugello have placed him on the list of firm candidates for the win in any race, although he is aware of the work still ahead and the challenge that next Sunday’s race at Silverstone represents.
Dani Pedrosa
“We arrive at Silverstone in good shape after the victory in Mugello. We had a very good weekend in Italy and myself and the team need to make the most of it to maintain this momentum. I cannot say much about Silverstone.I’ve seen some races on video from the past to check the circuit a little bit, but they have made some changes and I think the layout is also a bit different compared to Formula One, so we will need to find out for ourselves. From what I’ve seen I can say it’s a fast circuit, high speed overall, with many right-hand corners which are taken with the throttle open. It looks like an old-fashioned circuit, maybe comparable to Assen before they shortened it. We will start on Friday without prior knowledge, but it’s the same for everyone so I hope we can adapt as quickly as possible to prepare for the race. We will have three races in a row now – Britain, Holland and Catalu nya – and it will be very important not to make mistakes and to maintain consistency in the results”.
Andrea Dovizioso
“I’m really excited to go to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. We used to race at Donington Park, which was a track that I really liked and where only myself and Valentino had won in all the Grand Prix classes – 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP. But despite this I’m very much looking forward to Silverstone. It’s a new track for everyone and we have no previous reference data for the circuit, which gives us one more challenge for the race weekend. From the layout, it seems a very fast track and this could be favourable for our RC212V, but we will have to wait and see first hand to get a true idea of how we’re going to perform. We arrive at this race in very good shape, with three podiums from four races, and we’re feeling especially good after the podium at Mugello – my home race – because this was really significant for me. Now we have to take another step fo rward because on Sunday I want to fight for the win”.
Marc Márquez
“My shoulder has now fully recovered and although we’ll continue to strengthen it, because it’s a delicate area and if I fall there is always a risk of hurting it again, at least I can now forget about the pain. I arrive at Silverstone on a high after my first win, but we know that we have to keep calm because it is a new circuit and it’s not going to be easy. Nobody has ridden there so we’ll all be starting from the same point, but we’ll have to try not to get too lost at the beginning with the adjustments and take it step-by-step. As usual in England, we’ll have to watch the weather because it can always rain, so we have to be careful and work well. We’ll try to take it step by step and put in a good weekend”.
