Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) became the eighth winner of 2016 in Misano, as the 'Baby Samurai' sliced through from P8 on the grid to catch teammate Marc Marquez, former nemesis Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and 9-time world champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) to break a few local hearts and take a stunning victory. Aggressive, controlled and simply the fastest man on track, Pedrosa bounced back from a tough mid-season as improvements that began to appear in the post-Brno test then saw him in the front group at Silverstone and in a class of his own in the Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. MotorLand Aragon is home sweet home and has seen Pedrosa take one commanding win, two solid second place finishes and two DNFs - one in the rain and one as his traction control cable was severed in an incident with teammate Marquez in 2013. That's not counting the rider from Sabadell's duel for the podium last season, as Pedrosa fought an incredible battle with Rossi and just beat the Italian legend over the line for another fantastic result at MotorLand. With the weather hopefully more Misano than Brno, the progress made by Pedrosa and his team could take another important step in the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon.
Dani Pedrosa: “Of course we’ll arrive at Aragón in a good mood, as things that had already started getting better a couple of races earlier went perfectly at Misano, and we were able to achieve a great result. Anyway, it’s important that we keep our feet on the ground, as the races are very close and hard-fought this year. We must remain totally focused on our job and on our goals, which are to continue building on the base setup we’ve been working on lately and to find the pace to stay at the front. My fan club will be here and I’ll try my best to put on a good show for the fans.”