The third MotoGP race of a hectic June sees the Repsol Honda Team ready to tackle the contrasting challenges of Donington Park at the Grand Prix of Great Britain on Sunday June 24. Following a promising test after the previous race in Spain, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa arrive at Donington confident of putting in strong performances in round eight of the 17-race 2007 MotoGP World Championship.
Pedrosa, who lies third in the riders points standings, was utterly dominant last year at Donington. The rookie Spaniard was fastest in all but one of the dry practice sessions, set pole position and comfortably won the race, having opened up a gap of seven seconds at one stage. Pedrosa also set the fastest lap of the race to record a new lap record of 1m 28.714s, over a second inside the previous lap record and 0.450s quicker than the fastest lap of any other rider. The 21-year-old from Barcelona arrives at Donington Park in confident mood following his strong third-place finish in the Grand Prix of Catalunya two weeks ago. Pedrosa’s Honda RC212V crossed the line less than half a second behind the winner, and he also enjoyed a fruitful test the following day.
Nicky Hayden, the MotoGP World Champion, also comes to the British Grand Prix buoyed by the progress he made after the previous round in Spain. Though a vibration problem prevented the 25-year-old American from climbing above an 11th place finish in the race, he was then able to lap significantly faster in the two-day test at the Catalunya circuit and is hopeful the steps made will carry over to Donington Park. Hayden has endured some poor luck while trying to defend his title so far this season, but his never-say-die attitude sees the Repsol Honda Champion fully ready to bounce back this weekend.
The 4.023km (2.498-mile) Donington Park track is renowned for being a circuit of two halves, which will challenge the riders and Repsol Honda Team crews as they set up the 800cc RC212V here for the first time. The initial section from Redgate corner to the Dunlop straight is fast and flowing with a series of linked sweeping corners, including the famous Craner Curves – a high-speed downhill ‘S’ with a blind entry. Then, from the Fogarty Esses back to Redgate, a series of heavy braking zones into slow corners puts the emphasis on bike stability and engine drive from lower revs.
The Grand Prix of Great Britain begins on Friday with two hour-long sessions of free practice before a further practice session on Saturday is followed by qualifying. A 20-minute warm-up on Sunday precedes the 30-lap race which begins at 13.00hrs local time (14.00hrs CET).
Dani Pedrosa – World Championship Position: 3rd – 98 points “Last year I had a very good time at Donington Park so I’m really looking forward to going back there and trying for a repeat performance. We had a positive test in Barcelona after the last race and found a few things that should help us, particularly some tyres that we tested for Michelin, so this gives us more confidence for the upcoming races. The Donington Park track is quite good, with two quite distinct sections – the flowing first half of the lap and the stop-and-go second part. This makes engine performance quite critical to getting a good lap time. It can rain here too so I hope we get the same good weather we enjoyed last year. The crowd is unbelievable here – especially in the last few years – and it’s always good to see so many people at the Riders for Health Day of Champions on Thursday. The target for the weekend will obviously be to repeat last year’s win – I’d be very happy with that.”
Nicky Hayden – World Championship Position: 11th – 41 points“I can’t wait to get on the track on Friday morning to find out if I made as much progress as I think I did on the Monday and Tuesday test in Spain. I really hope it will all carry over and that I haven’t just been fooling myself – anyway and we’ll find out soon! Plus I’m fully over my injuries from the Le Mans crash so I feel ready to push really hard. Donington is a pretty good track. I really like the first part of the lap, but the last section has never come just silky smooth for me. There’s a lot of hard braking, then accelerating where you’re fighting to keep the front wheel down to the next corner. However, with losing 200cc this year, the wheelie problem should be reduced somewhat. On the Thursday before the race the Riders for Health charity does some good fundraising work and we’re bringing a few kids from the Make-a-Wish Foundation for the weekend too, so I’m looking forward to that. Also we’ve got a few British ‘lads’ in my team and this is their home track, so it would be nice to give them a good result here at ‘Paradise Island’ as they call it.”
Donington 2006: 1 Dani Pedrosa 44m 54.878s
2 Valentino Rossi + 3.864s 2
3 Marco Melandri + 4.016s 3
4 Casey Stoner + 5.776s 4
5 Kenny Roberts Jr + 9.596s 5
6 Colin Edwards + 21.71s 6
7 Nicky Hayden + 25.764s 7
8 John Hopkins + 29.034s 8
9 Loris Capirossi + 35.606s 9
10 Carlos Checa + 40.442s 10
11 Makoto Tamada + 41.062s 11
12 Randy De Puniet + 42.197s 12
13 Alex Hofmann + 51.454s 13
14 James Ellison + 1m 17.804s
15 Jose Luis Cardoso + 1 lap
16 Chris Vermeulen + 1 lap
Not Classified:
Shinya Nakano
Ivan Silva
2007 Championship Standings After 7 Races:1 Casey Stoner 140
2 Valentino Rossi 126
3 Dani Pedrosa 98
4 Marco Melandri 75
5 Chris Vermeulen 72
6 John Hopkins 72
7 Loris Capirossi 57
8 Alex Barros 51
9 Toni Elias 45
10 Colin Edwards 45
11 Nicky Hayden 41
12 Alex Hofmann 38
13 Randy de Puniet 30
14 Carlos Checa 20
15 Shinya Nakano 19
16 Makoto Tamada 16
17 Sylvain Guintoli 16
18 Fonsi Nieto 5
19 Olivier Jacque 4
20 Kenny Roberts Jr 4
Circuit length: 4.023km (2.498 miles)
Lap Record: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1m 28.714s – 2006
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