Double World Champion Dani Pedrosa recorded his best wet performance in the inaugural 250cc race at Shanghai as his team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama stormed to his first podium finish of the season and his fourth in total in the World Championship.

Pedrosa, who arrived in China having finished the last 16 Grands Prix in the top four, took an early lead in the race but quickly realised that the sixth gear setting on his Honda was too short for the longest straight on the World Championship calendar, measuring 1,175 metres in length. Dani was holding his position in the second group along with De Puniet, De Angelis and Aoyama, but halfway through the race he began to suffer from the same problem that dogged his race in Portugal two weeks ago, his visor steaming up and leaving him to concentrate on picking up as many points as possible.

 

Hiroshi Aoyama went from strength to strength, showing calm maturity as he recovered from a bad start to make his way to the podium positions by the fourteenth lap and holding on to third place to the end of the race.

 

Dani now lies third in the championship, just five points behind the new leader Andrea Dovizioso, whilst Aoyama moves up to sixth overall.

 

DANI PEDROSA (6th): “I’ve always found it difficult to ride in the rain but I think sixth place is good for me; it’s my best result in the wet. I tried as well as I could to follow the pace of the second group because Stoner and Dovizioso were really fast, but I had a gearbox problem. Sixth gear was too short for this circuit and I was losing a lot of time in the straight but I didn’t want to break the engine. Even though I was a bit behind at the end I spent the majority of the race lapping with riders who are good in the wet and that’s positive for me.”

 

HIROSHI AOYAMA (3rd): “To come to a completely new circuit and make the podium was always going to be tough, it was unthinkable yesterday, but I think I had a good race. At the start I didn’t feel too comfortable with the pace of the second group but when I saw that the gap was getting smaller I gathered more confidence. That gave me the strength to move to the front of the group, with Stoner and Dovizioso out of sight. It’s my first podium this season and now we’re going to Le Mans, a circuit I really like.”

 

GP OF CHINA

1.Casey Stoner (Aus/Aprilia) 48’07”205

2.Andrea Dovizioso (Ita/Honda) + 0”249

3.Hiroshi Aoyama (Jap/Honda) + 21”434

4.A. De Angelis (RSM/Aprilia) + 28”589

5.Sebastian Porto (Arg/Aprilia) + 31”879

6.Dani Pedrosa (Esp/Honda) + 40”520

 

250cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

1.Andrea Dovizioso  53 points

2.Casey Stoner 50 points

3. Dani Pedrosa 48 points

4.Alex De Angelis  40 points

5. Sebastian Porto 38 points

6.Hiroshi Aoyama 26 points