Dani Pedrosa wins in Le Mans and leaps to the top of the Championship
Wow, where to start with the French GP? Perhaps a smug ‘I told you so’, reference Dani being the one to watch for winning this race.
It used to be that, if it was raining, wet, damp; then Dani would be a dead cert for mediocrity in the race. However over the last 18-months, we have seen him focus on this major weakness and turn it into a strength – Dani Pedrosa is now a great wet-weather rider. I never thought I’d say so.
He had two great days of Free Practice leading up to the race; setting fastest times and looking, overall, confident on track – however a fall in Q2 on Saturday morning left him starting from the back of the second row, in sixth place.
Ahead of the race, most eyes were on Marquez, Lorenzo and Rossi, while the two front runners for the most part – Dani and Dovi – were, foolishly, overlooked. While Dani’s great start and prowess in the rain did not surprise me at all (okay, it surprised me a little bit. Not that he was riding well in the wet, but that he was braving manoeuvre after manoeuvre to take and retake the lead. Brave stuff, displaying just how much of a complete rider he has become, fully fit).
But Dovi was the real surprise package on Sunday. Alongside Nicky, who spent most of the race up in fifth place, the Ducati’s stayed at the pointy end of the race, throughout, to finish 4th and 5th respectively, ahead of both Factory Yamahas who, contrastingly, were all at sea in the conditions.
Dovi:
“It’s always nice to be at the front of the pack! I’m really happy with my feeling with the bike and, as long as the tyres were decent, I was able to manage the situation well. Dani had more than I did, but I was still able to keep a good pace.
“We had good grip, which helped us to have a nice race, but as the track dried the tyres began wearing a lot. I couldn’t keep the pace over the last six or seven laps and unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the podium. I’m sorry for the team about that but we had a positive weekend in all aspects, even in the dry.”
Hayden:
“Wet races are tough, especially when you don’t have much time to set up the bike! I got a great start and picked up some positions in the first few corners. I didn’t feel great at first, but I began to improve and was closing on the lead group when they were battling with each other. I really enjoyed that, especially when the track was pretty wet. Things got more difficult as it dried, but I was hanging in there.
“I was looking for a way past Rossi and when he crashed I picked it up and ran wide. I put my head down and tried to close the gap, but I made a mistake and after Marquez got by I just tried to stay up and get to the finish. Top five is our best result of the season, but for a while I thought I had a possibility to do something really good. Still, there were moments this weekend when we showed more potential than we have all year and I’m really looking forward to Mugello.”
Dani was the first pilot this season to win two races and, thanks to dropped points from Marquez and Lorenzo, hopped to the top of the Championship by six points (ahead of Marquez, and 17 in front of third-placed Lorenzo). After his great start, Dani duelled with Dovi to lead the pack – each rider advancing on a mistake of the other. Pedrosa reached the limit with the bike in the wet, running off wide, but managed to regain pace and position after overtaking Dovi on the 14th lap.
Dani:
“It was a very good race for me. I’m so happy with this one because I lost some position sliding at the start but recovered at the first turn. I had no grip on the rear, but tried to stay in front with Dovi and Lorenzo. I started to have some good feeling in the wet, so I tried to push but made a couple of mistakes and almost went off twice.
“I was able to hang on and just keep up the rhythm, so I could escape out in front and ride with good pace. The bike was working well; the tyres were spinning a lot with the drying line in the last laps, but I was able to manage the gap and bring home this victory which is so special.”
Marquez struggled on his first trip out on the Repsol Honda in wet conditions, and dropped immediately from pole to 8th. He was stuck there for half of the race, only really starting to mount an attack to regain his position after Stefan Bradl’s fall. This allowed him fifth place, behind the Ducati pair – he stalked and passed them both, as he finally found his footing in the mixed conditions, making sure he wasn’t dropping too many points to his teammate but title rival, Dani Pedrosa.
This was helped by the tyre wear at the end of the race. The field all selected soft compound tyres, front and back, for the wet – which wore greatly as the track finally started to dry out in the latter stages.
Britain’s Cal Crutchlow pulled out the superhero moves this weekend to finish second (his best finish) despite fracturing the top of his shin after a big crash in qualifying. He found himself in a familiar position, stuck behind his former teammate Dovizioso, for most of the race – but managed to out-manoeuvre him out of second-place with five laps to go. Unfortunately for Dovi, Marc Marquez did the same in the last two laps to take a probably deserved podium place. He hasn’t missed the steps yet this season.
It was a poor day for Yamaha Factory Racing, with Jorge’s demise almost the biggest talking point of the race, ahead of Dani, Cal and Dovi’s positives. He was ineffectual, dropping down to ninth, though finally finishing seventh after Rossi and Bradl’s falls. In fact, retirements aside, this was his worst placed finish since his first MotoGP campaign in 2008.
Lorenzo:
“At the beginning of the race the bike was not the same as in the Warm-Up, but not so bad, and I could follow Andrea and Dani. I was losing a lot in some areas of the track but recovering in others. Then after three or four laps the bike got worse and I got problems everywhere; in the braking, because in the middle of the corner I didn’t trust the rear tyre, and in acceleration because the rear was spinning so much I lost nearly half a second compared to the others. Races are like this sometimes; last year I won by 20 seconds with a very good bike and this year was completely the opposite. I couldn’t do much more without crashing.”
Rossi was similarly troubled – despite spending the first half of the race trying to break into the podium places, he slipped under pressure from Hayden’s Ducati – surely a shock for Rossi more than anyone! The Doc got back up and managed to cross the line in 12th place, on a day to forget for team Factory Yamaha – who were humbled by Cal’s Tech 3 bike. Cal overtook Rossi in the Championship and is now sitting in fourth position.
Rossi:
“Unfortunately we lost a good chance to get a good result today. I think we had the potential to be with the first three and on the podium. I had a good pace and I was fast and I could fight with the other guys. In that corner, I didn’t arrive too fast and didn’t feel any mistake, but I felt a bump and lost the front so it’s a pity because we lose points and especially the chance to try to have a good podium here.”
The Italian Grand Prix at Mugello takes place on June 2. It is certainly all to play for – with Repsol Honda the team to stop, and Rossi looking for his first win on the season, back on his favoured Yamaha, on home turf. It’s sure to be a good one…
Pursuit of Nattiness 