World Championship contender Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) was Michelin’s top performer at Mugello today, the Spanish star disputing the lead with rivals Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1) and Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici) before taking a strong third place, just 2.6 seconds behind Stoner.
Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) and rookie James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) made it three Michelin men in the top six, the team-mates enjoying a thrilling battle as they fought their way through from eighth and ninth in the early stages. Today’s race was run in warm sunshine following two days of rain-hit practice which gave riders and their technicians very little dry track time to fully prepare for the 23 laps.
“That was a very tough race,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “It was great to see Dani fighting with the leaders once again, but we knew it would be quite difficult today. We wanted to use some harder solutions than what we had tried during practice. As usual we made each tyre choice together with each rider and I think we made some good choices, though the weekend was very much complicated by the lack of dry practice time.
“It was great seeing Colin and James coming through, they both rode great races. It was also good watching Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) fighting so hard with Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki GSV-R) in his first MotoGP race at Mugello. Of course, we expected a better result here at Mugello, now we will keep working hard for the next race at Catalunya next weekend.
Pedrosa’s third place was his fifth top-three result from the first six races of 2008. “It was great to be on the podium again, it’s a good result for the championship, but while consistency is always important, we need to win more races.”
Edwards, who finished third at Le Mans two weeks ago, was once again happy with his day’s work with Michelin. “A big thank you to Michelin, they did a great job,” said the Texan. “We had no idea what the tyres would be like after 20 laps, so to come from where I did shows that we made a great choice. This track is=2 0so abrasive that it’ll destroy the tyres even if you’re just a little off on your tyre choice, so full credit to Michelin.”
Le Mans runner-up Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) was looking good for another strong race when he slid off unharmed on lap seven. The rookie still holds third in the championship point standings.
Race Classification:1.Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team), 42,31.153
2.Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team), + 2.201
3.Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team- Michelin, + 4.867
4.Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda Gresini), + 6.313
5.Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), + 12.530
6.James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), + 13.806
7.Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), + 14.447
8.Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP-Michelin), + 15.319
9.Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini), + 15.327
10.Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), + 30.785
11.Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team), + 39.621
12.Toni ELIAS (Alice Team DUCATI), + 50.021
13.Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin), + 50.440
14.Tada OKADA (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin), + 58.849
15.Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team), + 1'00.736
DNF.Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team- Michelin)
DNF.Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP- Michelin)
DNF.Marco Melandri (Ducati Marlboro Team)
DNF.John Hopkins (Kawasaki Racing Team)
