Pedrosa extends rostrum run to preserve title lead

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) finished second in today’s Italian GP, overcoming rear grip issues to secure his fourth successive rostrum finish and maintain his lead in the World Championship over race winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha).

Pedrosa started from pole position and led off the line, but was pushed into second by Lorenzo with an aggressive move at the first corner. Lorenzo later apologised to his fellow Spaniard and title rival.

The Honda rider stayed close to hound his countryman mercilessly until after the halfway point of the 23-lap race around the fast and spectacular Mugello circuit in the Tuscan foothills outside Florence. Then as tyre grip faded he was forced to slacken his pace, to be sure of a safe podium finish. 

Bad weather had been forecast for the weekend, but both Saturday and Sunday were clear and only partly cloudy, giving a capacity crowd of 76,326 some relief to outweigh the disappointment of seeing their hero Rossi out on the first lap. For the riders, the highest track temperatures of the weekend posed new problems of tyre wear and adhesion.

The next MotoGP round is the Catalan Grand Prix at the Montmelo circuit outside Barcelona in two weeks time.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd

“I didn’t feel fully comfortable in the race today, but I’m happy because I was able to gain a large number of points. In general, this was a difficult weekend. The back tyre was giving me a lot of problems with grip but taking 20 points from this race and maintaining the lead the World Championship is something positive.”