Many had thought that Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) would be a title contender from the start of the 2016 MotoGP™ World Championship, but a wild Honda RC213V saw his chances vanish. After the difficulties, the Catalan GP showed signs of hope as Pedrosa returned to the podium for the first time since Argentina. A day of testing after the race gave Pedrosa and his crew yet more time to assess a new frame they had used throughout the weekend as well as revisions to the exhaust and electronics. All in all it was a positive home weekend for the Spaniard and he’s approaching Assen with a smile.
Pedrosa is yet to take victory at the historic Dutch track of Assen in the premier class, but has five podiums there in the MotoGP™ class. Wet weather is common in Assen and can shake up the established order significantly. Rain has so far been rare in 2016 and Pedrosa is hoping that the majority of the Motul TT Assen weekend stays dry to allow him to build a solid base setting for the weekend.
Two weeks between Barcelona and Assen gave Pedrosa a chance to relax at home and focus on his fitness. But like any racer he just couldn’t stay away from the track and has out on an RC213V-S at the Red Bull Ring in Austria for some filming.
Dani Pedrosa: “It was nice to be able to put in some good laps at the last race in Catalunya, to enjoy a bit of fighting and to step back on the podium, but now we must focus on doing a good job in Assen as well. We’ll see what feeling we’ll have in different conditions: colder than recent races, and very high-speed. The chances of rain are always high there, so we hope to have enough dry sessions to do some good work, both for the race weekend and for the future. Last Tuesday I quite enjoyed taking part in a video shoot at the Red Bull Ring in Austria: it was my first time at that track, which looks really good, and I had fun with the RC213V-S, which is an awesome street bike.”