Pedrosa: “It was a better race than the last few”

2016 hasn’t been an easy year for Dani Pedrosa but he and his crew have continued to work at their issues and are steadily getting closer to again challenging for the podium on a regular basis. The Gran Premio d’Italia TIM was the best example of this to date as the MotoGP™ veteran picked his way through the field. For most of the race he sat behind the Ducati Team pair of Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso, the top end speed of the Ducati proving too much for Pedrosa to overcome on the straight. On lap 19 he was able to get past Dovizioso after the Italian made a mistake and soon passed Iannone as well, but ‘The Maniac’ fought right back.

I followed Iannone, but it was difficult to overtake because he was very fast on the straight and it was hard to get even with him

Ducati power would win out and resulted in Pedrosa finishing fourth, 0.168s off a return to the podium. Despite the disappointment of coming so close to the top three, Pedrosa leaves Italy pleased with the progress he and the team have made and are hoping to go one better at his home round in Barcelona. Pedrosa sits fourth in the standings with 66 points, only 12 behind Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and a top three finish at the end of the season is still very much a possibility.

Dani Pedrosa: “It was a better race than the last few we’ve had. The start was demanding, and with a full tank of fuel I lost some ground. However, my pace wasn’t bad and I was able to make back several positions while also taking advantage of mistakes by other riders. I managed to stick with Iannone and increase my pace to try to fight for third position, even if he was a little faster. I followed him, but it was difficult to overtake because he was very fast on the straight and it was hard to get even with him. We learned a lot about our bike in this race, so we’ll try to work on it to take a step forward in the future.”