Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden finished fourth and eighth in today’s rain-affected French GP at Le Mans. Pedrosa, who started the race from pole position, ran in the lead group and only lost his chance of a podium finish in the final two or three laps. Hayden, who qualified sixth fastest, lost several places mid-race when he ran off the track but kept battling hard all the way to the finish.
During the early laps Pedrosa fought an enthralling skirmish with rivals Valentino Rossi, Colin Edwards and Casey Stoner. Then rain began falling at half-distance, dampening the track at the entry to the high-speed first corner, which riders attack at about 180km/h. However, the rain wasn’t strong enough to bring the front-runners into the pits to change to their spare bikes equipped with rain tyres. In the closing stages Pedrosa slipped to fourth behind Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Edwards. Hayden’s off-track excursion at the Garage Vert corner dropped him to tenth on lap 14, the American gaining two places as rivals hit problems.
The Repsol Honda Team will test here tomorrow, focusing on chassis settings and tyre testing with Michelin. Hayden will then travel back to the US where next weekend he will ride a demo lap aboard a 2007 RC212V before the start of the huge Indy 500 car race to promote September’s inaugural Indianapolis MotoGP event.
Dani PedrosaFinished: 4th - 2nd equal in World Championship
Front tyre: 16" Michelin slick medium
Rear tyre: 16.5" Michelin slick medium
“I am sorry because we could have been on the podium but in the race I wasn’t able to go as fast as I had gone during practice. From the beginning of the race I had some issues with the front tyre, I couldn’t brake the way I wanted to brake. When we chose our race tyres we tried hard to choose the best tyres for the race, so we didn’t expect things to turn out like they did. Then in the second half of the race I started to lack some rear grip. When Lorenzo passed me I tried to go with him and not lose contact but I couldn’t manage it. I gave my maximum and despite the problems we finished fourth, which isn’t so bad. We are second equal in the championship and we will continue to work hard to achieve better results at the next races. We stay here tomorrow for one day of testing when we will try to understand what happened today and make another step forward.”
Nicky HaydenFinished: 8th - 7th in World Championship
Front tyre: 16" Michelin slick medium
Rear tyre: 16.5" Michelin slick medium
“That wasn’t too pretty. All weekend we’ve been missing something, the pace hasn’t been there. I got a good start and recovered a couple of positions but couldn’t go with the group I needed to go with. I was hanging in there, then I ran off the track in turn six, got in just a little bit hot, didn’t make it and that lost me three positions. I came back on, had a little dice with Loris over the last few laps but it wasn’t the result we wanted. It was definitely tough conditions, it wasn’t just a few drops of rain it was straight-up raining through some parts of the track. With the tyres being that hot the lap times didn’t suffer too bad, but I was kinda hoping the rain would come down and let us swap bikes and try something different, but it didn’t happen. This has never been an easy track for me, I’d say Le Mans is the worst track for me on the calendar. Tomorrow we’ll work on chassis stuff. I need to try getting some momentum going, especially for the tracks I really love that are coming up. I need to be strong when I get to them, I need to use the people around me to find what I need.”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager“Racing is never easy and today was a difficult day. Dani didn’t make the podium but he still got a good points score which is good for the overall championship situation. We stay here tomorrow to work on the chassis set-up to put us in the best-possible situation for the next race where we will once again target victory. Nicky had a difficult weekend here but I am confident he will be stronger at the next races.”
Race Day Attendance: 74.602
Weekend attendance: 147.697
Race Results:1, V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 44'30.799
2, J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team + 4.997
3, C. EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 6.805
4, D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 10.157 5, C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 21.762
6, A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 22.395
7, L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 27.806
8, N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 27.995 9, R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 29.344
10, S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 30.822
11, T. ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 35.154
12, A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 36.216
13, S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 52.038
14, A. WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team + 1'29.307
15, M. MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1 Lap
16, C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 2 L
Fastest Lap (new record): V.Rossi (Yamaha) 1'34"215
Circuit best lap 2008: D.Pedrosa (Honda) 1'32"647
Race conditions: Weather: 20°C
Track: dry
Temperature: 26°c
Humidity: 38%
World Championship Classification - Riders:1. Valentino ROSSI - ITA - Fiat Yamaha Team 97
2. Jorge LORENZO - SPA - Fiat Yamaha Team 94
3. Dani PEDROSA - SPA - Honda Team 94 4. Casey STONER - AUS - Ducati Marlboro Team 56
5. Colin EDWARDS - USA - Tech 3 Yamaha 47
6. Loris CAPIROSSI - ITA - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 42
7. Nicky HAYDEN - USA - Repsol Honda Team 37 8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO - ITA - JiR Team Scot MotoGP 36
9. James TOSELAND - GBR - Tech 3 Yamaha 33
10. Shinya NAKANO - JPN - San Carlo Honda Gresini 28
11. John HOPKINS - USA - Kawasaki Racing Team 26
12. Chris VERMEULEN - AUS - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 25
13. Marco MELANDRI - ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 24
14. Toni ELIAS - SPA - Alice Team 20
15. Randy DE PUNIET - FRA - LCR Honda MotoGP 18
16. Alex DE ANGELIS - RSM - San Carlo Honda Gresini 11
17. Sylvain GUINTOLI - FRA Alice Team 7
18. Anthony WEST - AUS - Kawasaki Racing Team 5
Constructor Points:1. YAMAHA 115
2. HONDA 94
3. DUCATI 61
4. SUZUKI 45
5. KAWASAKI 28
Team Points:1. FIAT YAMAHA TEAM 191
2. REPSOL HONDA TEAM 1313. DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM 80
4. TECH 3 YAMAHA 80
5. RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP 67
6. SAN CARLO HONDA GRESI 39
7. JIR TEAM SCOT MOTOGP 36
8. KAWASAKI RACING TEAM 31
9. ALICE TEAM 27
10. LCR HONDA MOTOGP 18
