Two weeks after the World Championship began with the unique nighttime race in Qatar the next race is in Japan. The Circuit of Motegi hosts the race a little earlier than last year, and returns to its previous place in the calendar, that is to say the second race of the year. The schedule is more normal than the one adopted in Qatar, practice and the race will be in daylight, although to watch them in Europe you will have to get up early.
The Repsol Honda Team rider Dani Pedrosa will be a little more recovered than he was in Qatar, although he is far away from being able at 100%. Pedrosa has been working hard on his stamina, whilst some of the other riders have had another ten days of rest, a very important factor if the Spanish rider wants to tackle races in the demanding MotoGP category with any guarantee. The Repsol rider`s objective will once again to be in the fight at the front and to get as many points as possible and to continue working intensely on the Repsol Honda RC212V 2009.
His teammate Andrea Dovizioso, goes to Motegi with the aim of improving on the fifth place he got in Qatar. At a circuit that is very special for any Honda rider, Dovizioso will have to take advantage of the experience he gained in the first race so that he continues to evolve, and at the same time, set up the bike for the rest of the season and eliminate the problems he had on the front end during the race in Qatar.
For the riders in 125cc the Japanese GP will be almost another start to the season, this is because they only raced for four laps in Qatar, and so the second round of the championship will be where we really get a good idea about what may happen this year. Esteve Rabat and Scott Redding see this race as an opportunity to get closer to the leaders in this category, after a bad start in Qatar seriously affected them when the rain began to fall.
Marc Márquez, who did get off to a good start and at one point was in third place, learnt an important lesson in Qatar after he fell just before the red flag was shown. The Repsol rider is one of the great promises for this season, and in his second year in the World Championship will visit the Japanese track with much more optimism. For his teammate, Cameron Beaubier, the race in Motegi will let him learn about the circuit and get more experience in this category.
Dani Pedrosa
“I’m looking forward to this weekend in Japan. My leg is improving all the time and the knee is gaining a little bit more mobility every day. I don’t have the full range of movement yet, but I think that by the time we get to Motegi I’ll have about ten degrees more of movement than in Qatar, which should make quite a big difference. My elbow is also getting better after the hit De Angelis gave me in Qatar – there’s still some pain and stiffness but I hope it won’t be a problem in Japan. My priority is still to reach full fitness so that I can ride at 100 per cent, and then we must focus on the machine because I missed out on quite a lot of winter testing and we’re still not at the level we’d like to be. It’s a case of taking things one step at time – first to get full fitness and then improve the bike step by step. Motegi is a track I like though, and I’ve won races there in the past so I’m looking forward to getting the best result possible at Honda’s home track.”
Andrea Dovizioso
“The Grand Prix of Japan is the home race for Honda and HRC so I’d really like to get a good result there. I have always liked this track, there are many hard braking and many acceleration zones and I think that, with the characteristics of our bike, we can have a good race. We’re going to Japan having learned a lot at the first race in Qatar. During that race some new issues arose and we’ve now had the time to analyze them and work a few things out, so I think we can expect to do even better at Motegi. I like the atmosphere at Motegi on Sunday – there are many Japanese fans supporting the Honda riders so I always look forward to it. This year Honda celebrates its 50th anniversary of involvement in the World Championship and it’s a real honour for me to be racing for the factory Honda team.”
Marc Márquez >> Audio
“I know the Circuit of Motegi from last year, and I think you will notice this because I already have a good idea of what the track is like. Whatever the reality is that we will have to make a big effort to set the bike up. The first objective is to try and have some good settings for the race and then we will see where we are. This is a circuit with a lot of braking and then a lot of open throttle. The same thing all the time although with another part that is a little more technical. Last year, my first time there, I liked it a lot although I took a bit of time to adapt to it. I am sure that this year things will go well.”
Esteve Rabat >> Audio
“In Japan the circuit is much more to my liking, because there is a lot of braking and that is one of the things I like the most. I am dying to ride there, and I have the objective of improving and to finish higher up the classification than in Qatar, that is to say among the first nine. The team and I are improving every day, we are better co-ordinated and we all understand the bike better, so there is nothing to stop us from getting a better result.”
Scott Redding >> Audio
“The Circuit of Motegi is one of the most beautiful in the World Championship. Last year`s race did not go very well for me, but overall it was not too bad. I think that this year, on the Aprilia RSA, things should be much better. We are also hoping for better weather and so be able to work comfortably. I can`t wait to race there because what happened in Qatar was very strange, at the end I was a bit upset and really disappointed.”
Cameron Beaubier >> Audio
“I feel a lot better. My shoulder, since I came back from Qatar, is healing well so I should not have any physical problems. It will be a totally new circuit for me, and the first thing I have to do is to learn what the corners are like and which lines to take as quick as I can so that I can improve bit by bit. I have a bit of an idea what it is like, thanks to video games and last year`s races which I have seen on the TV, but obviously when you are on the bike things are different. I hope to do things better than in Qatar, perhaps I can begin to finish among the first fifteen or sixteen riders.”
