Poleman Pedrosa feels win is a possibility

At Motegi he wasn’t expecting a podium. At Jerez he was still surprised to be on the rostrum. After taking pole at Le Mans, however, Dani Pedrosa is finally facing a Sunday race with the real intention of winning his first Grand Prix of 2009.

“I think that tomorrow it will be a very hard race. The Yamahas are very strong here, and we’ll have to work very hard tonight to get a bike capable of taking the win,” said the Repsol Honda rider, who snatched pole position for the Grand Prix de France with a shock last-minute lap.

“It was a good qualifying session, because it wasn’t raining!” he explained. “We’ve always had spots in the previous practices. I’m just trying to get a good feeling on the bike, to make a good setup for tomorrow’s race, and I’m very happy to be on the front row here –something that I consider very important at this circuit.”

Pedrosa is a former racewinner at Le Mans, but is still very much finding his stride in 2009 after missing a large chunk of preseason through injury.