Daniel Pedrosa and the Telefónica MoviStar Honda Team made history in Malaysia almost one year ago, when Dani was crowned 125cc World Champion. He was only 18 years of age and became the youngest ever Spanish World Champion and the second youngest of all time. One year later the Telefónica MoviStar team return to Sepang with Dani Pedrosa again favourite to lift the title in the 250cc class and Sete Gibernau closer than ever to his dream of swapping his runner-up award last year for the MotoGP World Championship crown.

The Grand Prix of Qatar last weekend provided a crucial confidence booster for the team. All four riders stepped up to the podium after the first ever race in the Middle East with victory for Sete Gibernau, second place for Colin Edwards and Dani Pedrosa and third for Hiroshi Aoyama. Pedrosa and Sete share another interesting statistic, being the riders to have led for the highest number of laps in their respective categories this season – both riders with a total of 120.

Pedrosa arrives in Malaysia with a 43-point advantage at the top of the 250cc standings after taking eleven podiums (five wins, five second places and one third) from the opening 13 rounds. Dani holds fond memories of Sepang but refuses to think about anything other than keeping his concentration and working hard in all four practice sessions ahead of the race. Qatar was torture for the riders because of the high temperatures and there will be no time for them to catch their breath at Sepang. The heat and the humidity are two factors which will again have to be taken into account in the performance of both the riders and the machine.

In MotoGP Sete Gibernau’s chances of winning the championship increased greatly with his fourth victory of the season. Fourteen points now separate him from series leader Valentino Rossi and Sete is ready to cope with the pressure just as well as he did on Sunday. His situation has changed greatly from last season, when the gap in Sepang stood at 54 points. Also, all three podium positions were taken up by Honda riders last year - Rossi, Gibernau and Biaggi. Colin Edwards hopes to maintain the excellent form he showed throughout the weekend at Losail, a new circuit which he conquered with second place and the lap record in the race.

THE RIDERS’ OPINION

SETE GIBERNAU (15)

“The victory in Qatar was perfect for us but I don’t want to get carried away, it would be wrong to start thinking that it will be easier now. I just want to look on it as 25 points more and try to keep my concentration because we have shown that when the pressure is on we know how to handle it, we’ve shown that we want to win, that I see myself as a winner and that I’m not happy with anything else. We’ve arrived in Malaysia full of confidence in our chances. When you think that a couple of days ago people were writing me off, and now they see me with a chance again, I’m not going to get carried away. That’s what has worked for me so far and I’m not going to change now. As far as the race here in Malaysia is concerned, I know that it will be really tough, like in Qatar, but physically I’m ready to compete at the top level again”.

COLIN EDWARDS (45)

“Sepang is one of my favourite circuits on the calendar and my confidence is high after our second podium of the season in Qatar. It’s not just the result of the race but the fact we were consistent all weekend and we showed that we can compete. It will be hot again at Sepang and it’s important to keep a good line, but the braking zones are harder and it will be easier to overtake. It’s a rider’s circuit because it combines zones where you have to be really aggressive with sections where you just have to let the bike run.”

DANI PEDROSA (26)

“I had carburation problems in because of the heat in Qatar and the longer the race went on the slower it got. The same thing could happen in Malaysia but hopefully it won’t be as hot and myself and the bike won’t suffer as much. I’m looking forward to getting to the track because I’ve got good memories from last year and I’m hopeful we can do a good job and get a good result. The advantage at the top of the championship is great and I want to stay consistent in Malaysia. We have to keep the same mentality because things can change drastically in a day and I am not the type of person to take anything for granted. I remember the race last year as being really hot, the bike was fourth bottom in terms of top speed and I had to push really hard. At the end I won the race and the championship and it was fantastic.”

HIROSHI AOYAMA (73)

“The objective of the last few races is to keep the concentration at the same level as in Japan. I made a big effort to do that in Qatar and I ended up back on the podium. Over the last few races I’ve taken a step forward but I want to keep improving because I would be really happy to finish the season in fourth place in the championship. It will be really hot again in Malaysia but I hope not to suffer as much as in Qatar – I had never competed in conditions as tough.”

THE  2004 SEASON SO FAR FOR THE TELEFÓNICA MOVISTAR RIDERS