2016 has been a tough year for Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), the 2016 RC213V alongside the new technical regulations seeing him struggle to get within touching distance of the podium. In Argentina he took third place, but Pedrosa himself admits that this was entirely down to the double crash of Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) on the last lap. Throughout the year Pedrosa hasn’t given up and has continued to work, getting closer and closer to the front with each round, Mugello showing promising signs.
"Tomorrow we’ll use the new chassis that we’ve been trying here over these two days"His hard work paid off in front of his loyal home fans as Pedrosa completed a lap of the modified Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya in 1’44.307 to take third on the grid. With his teammate Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) on pole position, Pedrosa has helped to award Honda their first double front row start of 2016. Could Pedrosa continue his run of four straight podium finishes at the Catalan GP on Sunday?
Dani Pedrosa: “I’m very happy with a place on the front row; it’s important for me because I had been trying for it all season. Tomorrow we’ll use the new chassis that we’ve been trying here over these two days, and we’ll have to figure out which are the best tyres to have a good race. Today I tried to do my best on the bike to improve in all aspects and in every section, but obviously the last sector is new and it tests the ability of each rider to learn a track quickly. In any case, it certainly is a difficult part. In qualifying I made a few mistakes here and there, although fortunately I was able to get a spot on the front row. Anyway I don’t want to forget what happened yesterday, I knew Luis and his family well, as I started racing with him long time ago with the minibikes at Mallorca. He was a strong and positive guy I will never forget him.”