He may not have been on the podium, but the Italian GP saw Dani Pedrosa more comfortable on his RC213V than in any previous race of the 2016 season. This has the three-time Catalan GP winner confident of a good result in front of the home fans, Pedrosa looking to add to his 11 previous podiums at the Barcelona circuit. In 2015 third in Barcelona was his first podium of the year, Pedrosa fighting back from sixth on the grid to take a thrilling podium and prove that he could still fight after his arm pump surgery. With a great weekend in Mugello behind him, Pedrosa is hopeful the 2016 Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya will see a similar change in fortune and be the first of many podiums.
"It was the first race where I really felt I was coming back after the surgery to my arms"It hasn’t been an ideal start to the season, but Pedrosa still remains inside the top four in the overall championship with 66-points. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) is 12 points ahead of him in the standings, a decent advantage but one that is not impossible to overcome. Riders will remain at the track on Monday for the second official in-season test of the season.
Dani Pedrosa: “I’m looking forward to racing at home in Catalunya, at a track I love and where I’ve had some very good results in the past. Last year I took my first podium of the season there, and it was the first race where I really felt I was coming back after the surgery to my arms. I hope to be able to do well again in front of my fan club and my entire home crowd. We’ll work on the bike setup, using what we learned at the last race to see if we can get something extra, trying to keep the momentum from Mugello, which was my best GP so far this season in terms of feeling on the bike during the race. Then we’ll see if we can take a further step forward in the post-race test on Monday.”