Pedrosa heads to Assen aiming to keep the momentum going

Dani Pedrosa will arrive in Assen for this week's Dutch TT, leading the Championship after six rounds of the 2013 season.

A favourite for the fans and for the riders, Assen is the only venue to have held a round of the Motorcycle World Championship every year since its creation in 1949. Dani has enjoyed good results in Assen taking seven podium finishes there including a victory in 2002 (125cc).

Last week, Honda Racing Corporation tested their new 2014 prototype machine in Aragon. The bike has been introduced earlier than normal due to the absence of the usual Brno post-race test after the Summer break. If the team had waited until the Misano test (16th September) it would be too late to make any big changes as a result of the feedback from factory rider Dani Pedrosa.

As well as normal upgrades to the bike, HRC have had to target specific regulation changes such as a smaller fuel tank for 2014 (by 1 litre), in addition to other areas that the factory riders have requested be developed.

Dani has chosen not to use this new evolution immediately, as he's happy with the current bike, leaving HRC some time to perfect the new prototype and allowing the riders to concentrate on their current programme and fight for the World Championship.

The race weekend in Assen begins on Thursday with Qualifying on Friday and the race on Saturday, as it was originally frowned upon for the race to be hosted on Sunday for religious reasons.

Dani Pedrosa - Championship Standing: 1st - 123 points

"After a good race in Catalunya and an important 20 points, I still lead the Championship and I am looking forward to Assen. I won my first ever race there and have very special memories. The weather can be temperamental so I hope we get some dry track time on Friday to find a good setting! It is a good track but it's important to have a good feeling with the tyres because there are several fast corners. I hope we can keep the momentum going and do a good race"

Shuhei Nakamoto - HRC Executive Vice President

"The test of the RC213V 2014 prototype has been very constructive. DanI gave us similar comments regarding the positive and negative aspects of the new bike and these will be very important in order to proceed with the development for next season. This test has also been very useful to work with the set up of the current bike and help Dani find something he likes. The fact that they are happy with the 2013 version of the RC213V puts no pressure on us to race with the new prototype, so we will continue with its development as planned, and will be back in Europe to the test after Misano or for the one after Valencia"

Supplied by Repsol Honda Team