Pedrosa assesses Le Mans challenge

Repsol Honda´s Dani Pedrosa was an upbeat figure at Thursday´s pre-Grand Prix press conference as he looked ahead to the fifth round of the season this weekend, in which he will be hoping to defend his current lead in the general standings.

The talented young Spaniard commented, `Well Le Mans has been a good track for us in the past, so we want to do just as well this time. Last year it was a difficult race as it was dry and wet, so we have to see what kind of conditions we get, but normally it is good for me.´

`Getting the set-up right and the tyres is very important here. It is quite often cold so it is complicated to have everything ready, but I think it is a good track for overtaking.´

Referring to his excellent start to the year, which has seen him on the podium at the opening four rounds, despite his preseason testing crash in Malaysia, Pedrosa stated, `I am surprised and happy, because when I got injured and with the problems we had with the bike it was difficult to believe. We need to keep going in the same direction and, of course, leading the championship is very important.´

On his title prospects he added, `In the last four races it has looked like a very open championship and we need to keep our rhythm up in the coming rounds.´