Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa blasted to an emphatic victory at the German Grand Prix on Sunday to record his first win of the season in front of a sell-out crowd at the Sachsenring circuit. The Spaniard’s huge margin of victory – 13.166 seconds – is the biggest gap between first and second place in the top class of Grand Prix racing in a dry race since Mick Doohan’s Repsol Honda won the 1997 Czech Grand Prix by 14.858s from Luca Cadalora. Pedrosa was joined on the podium by team-mate Nicky Hayden who put in an equally stunning performance to rocket from 14th on the grid to third at the flag.
Pedrosa and his Honda RC212V were peerless today. From second on the grid he made a perfect start, was first into Turn 1 and was never headed for the entire 30-lap race. His early pace was relentless as he held off and then steadily edged away from series leader and pole position man Casey Stoner, who at this stage lay in second place. On his way to victory Pedrosa set the fastest lap of the race, a time of 1m 23.082s which bettered the lap record he set here last year aboard the 990cc RC212V. This was Pedrosa’s third win of his MotoGP career and his first since taking victory at Donington Park last season. He remains in third place in the World Championship but has closed the gap to Valentino Rossi, who crashed out today, to twenty points.
While Pedrosa dominated at the front, team-mate Hayden was performing heroics as he battled through from his lowly grid position. A good start elevated the World Champion to tenth at the first corner and, despite early worries about an unusual noise coming from his machine, Hayden began picking off riders in spectacular fashion. By half distance he’d climbed to seventh and suddenly the impossible looked possible. By now lapping at a similar pace to Pedrosa, the 25-year-old American soon dispensed with Randy de Puniet before catching and dispatching Colin Edwards and a slowing Casey Stoner on the same lap. With Melandri overtaken a lap later Hayden crossed the line in third place to record his second podium in succession and create a welcome springboard for his home race, the U.S. Grand Prix which takes place at Laguna Seca in one week’s time.
Dani Pedrosa:Position: 1st - Best lap: 1m 23.082s
World Championship position 3rd: 144pts
Front tyre: 16.0" Hard Michelin slick
Rear tyre: 16.5" Hard Michelin slick
“I’m very very happy with the result today. This is a victory I’d like to dedicate to the Repsol Honda Team and to HRC because they have been working really hard for a long time without getting the results and I’m very happy they’ve kept motivation and put in maximum effort at every race. Now they have some reward. Also I’m pleased for the fans because they’ve given me great support even when I wasn’t winning. The race went very well obviously. I made a good start, pushed hard from the beginning and was able to open up a gap and control things from the front. The tyres were really good today and Michelin did a very good job, especially as some riders were having difficulties. Towards the end of the race the gap was big so I could take it relatively easy, which I was grateful for because it was very hot out there. The result closes the gap slightly in the championship which is good, but the really important thing about today is that we are winning again. Hopefully we can move on from this result and continue getting stronger.”
Nicky Hayden:Position: 3rd - Best lap: 1m 23.617s
World Championship position: 9th – 73pts
Front tyre: 16.0" Hard Michelin slick
Rear tyre: 16.5" Hard Michelin slick
“It’s great to be on the podium after what started as a really tough weekend. The team did a great job overnight and made some big improvements to the machine. I came out in the warm-up and it was a lot quicker so even though I was starting from 14th I still had some confidence for the race. I made a decent start – not as good as the one at Assen – but I made up a few places into the first corner. Then I heard a strange noise from the bike and slowed for a couple of laps trying to figure out if it was a problem. It didn’t seem to make any difference though so I just got my head down and started picking up places. The tyres worked really well today, so a big thanks to Michelin. It’s a good result ahead of Laguna but I need to put the whole weekend together on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We lost almost all of Friday with problems and Saturday didn’t go much better which cost us a lot. Dani rode really well to win the race and two riders on the podium is a really good result for the Repsol Honda Team. Now I’m just going to go home to the U.S. GP, enjoy the race and try to have some fun at Laguna.”
Makoto Tanaka – Repsol Honda Team Manager“This is an excellent result for the Repsol Honda Team. It’s been a demanding weekend because the conditions have changed a lot from session to session and in the end the temperatures just kept on rising which made the tyre choice very important. Dani’s team did a great job of improving his package after a few problems in the warm-up and he was able to ride at the absolute maximum today and take a great win. Congratulations and thanks to him. Nicky also had a fantastic race after a very tough time in practice and qualifying. Again he showed his real fighting spirit and came from a low grid position to the podium. He’s now had two podiums in two races and will go to his home race with a lot of confidence. We have to use this good result for the team as even more motivation to work harder and achieve more success in the coming races.”
Race result – after 30 laps:
1. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team 41m 53.196s
2. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro Team + 13.166s
3. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team + 16.771s
4. Colin Edwards - Fiat Yamaha Team + 18.299s
5. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro Team + 31.426s
6. Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini + 31.917s
7. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 33.395s
8. Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing Team + 41.194s
9. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d'Antin + 43.214s
10. Michel Fabrizio - Honda Gresini + 44.459s
11. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1m 01.894s
12. Kurtis Roberts - Team Roberts + 1m 10.721s
13. Makoto Tamada - Dunlop Yamaha Tech + 2 laps
14. Carlos Checa - Honda LCR + 3 laps
Not Classified:Randy De Puniet - Kawasaki Racing Team + 1 lap
Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda + 11 laps
Alex Barros - Pramac d'Antin + 21 laps
Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team + 25 laps
Sylvain Guintoli - Dunlop Yamaha Tech + 27 laps
World Championship Standings:
1. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro Team
2. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team
3. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team
4. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
5. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
6. Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini
7. Colin Edwards - Fiat Yamaha Team
8. Alex Barros - Pramac d'Antin
9. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro Team
10. Toni Elias - Honda Gresini
11. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d'Antin
12. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team
13. Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki Racing Team
14. Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda
15. Carlos Checa - Honda LCR
16. Makoto Tamada - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3
17. Sylvain Guintoli - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3
18. Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing Team
19. Fonsi Nieto - Kawasaki Racing Team
20. Olivier Jacque - Kawasaki Racing Team
Pole Position: Casey Stoner 1m 22.384s
Race Conditions: Weather: Sun
Temp: 33º C
Track: Dry / 41ºC
Humidity: 28%
Fastest Race Lap: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1m 23.082s
Circuit length: 3.671km (2.280 miles)
Lap Record: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1m 23.082s – 2007
Related News
