Michelin man Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) left the rest of the pack racing for second place at Catalunya this afternoon, the local hero smashing lap and race records during his awesome start-to-finish victory. Pedrosa was Michelin’s top performer in a great day for the French tyre brand, four of the first six finishers using Michelin tyres. Local hero Pedrosa – who grew up in Sabadell, less than 20km from the track – chose hard-compound front and rear Michelins for this aggressive track and yet was able to set a stunning pace from the very beginning that quickly left his pursuers behind. At one point he had built an eight-second advantage, finally crossing the line 2.8 seconds ahead after easing his pace during the final laps. Nonetheless Pedrosa broke the Catalunya race record by more than 14 seconds. His performance was particularly impressive because the track has not been in great shape this weekend with riders complaining of a lack of grip. Lap records were not broken in the 125 and 250 GPs.