Pedrosa perspective on season

Dani Pedrosa’s MotoGP campaign was far from an easy one for the Repsol Honda rider, with his pre-season preparations hampered by injury.

Despite a disappointing start in Qatar where he finished eleventh as his injury problems carried into the new season, Pedrosa went on to secure 11 podiums this year. Included in that total were two wins, with the most recent a rousing finale to his season at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit.

“The win in Valencia was a great moment, and what I most enjoyed was the lap of honour, celebrating the win with all the fans there. I have great memories of the race and that lap of honour,” explained the Spaniard. “The Laguna Seca win was also incredible, on that circuit and after everything that had happened since pre-season testing. What's more, we arrived at the United States Grand Prix at the lowest point of the season, and all of a sudden, it was like rising to the highest. That was an amazing day. The worst moment was possibly in winter, during pre-season testing. I had a really tough time; I couldn't recover properly from the injury to my left knee and had to have another operation, it was a really long period. What's more, the fall in Qatar made the situation even worse.”

Following his win in Valencia, Pedrosa tested the new prototype of his factory RC212V machine. The 24 year-old used the three days to identify what needs to be developed further ahead of the next scheduled test in Malaysia in February.

“We need to improve the stability of the bike when braking and entering turns because that's where our Achilles heel is,” Pedrosa said. “The engine we have is good, it's powerful and it has good power delivery, so we don't need any more improvements in that department at the moment. But we need to take a step forward with the chassis; advance and improve.”

“In the next test, in Malaysia, we will quickly pinpoint whether we have a competitive base or not and if we have improved the stability of the bike with the new chassis. In Sepang, there are very fast bends, where you immediately see if the chassis is working or not.”