Dani Pedrosa leaves Donington Park with his confidence and his championship lead intact after picking up a personal victory with fourth place. It is the Spaniard’s best wet weather result and came at a track which is notorious for its slippery nature in these conditions.
Dani got a good start from pole but lost several places before deciding to consolidate his position ahead of Sebastián Porto and gather crucial experience of the conditions.
Hiroshi Aoyama’s race was quite the opposite, a great warm-up in the wet conditions giving him the confidence to push hard from the start and open up a clear advantage over De Puniet. However, backmarkers soon appeared on lap 12 and Hiro was forced wide into a particularly wet corner, where his race ended.
DANI PEDROSA (4th): “I’m really happy with today’s race. It is my best result in the wet and it is particularly special because there was a lot of water on the track and this circuit is very slippery. The conditions got worse and worse but the truth is that I felt more comfortable than ever and was able to maintain a good pace. On the last ten laps I backed off a little bit because I was on my own, with a big gap in front and behind me, and to finish fourth in these conditions was important for me. The crashes in front allowed me to make up a lot of position but it was vital to hold my concentration becuase it was a long hard race. I had a couple of major scares but looking at the replays in the garage there were other riders who had it worse.”
HIROSHI AOYAMA (crashed): “What can I say? I was really looking forward to it after feeling so good in the warm-up and I felt confident in my ability. I got a good start and felt good leading the race but I soon ran into a group of backmarkers and made the mistake of passing one where it was very slippery. It’s a shame because I really thought I could have won the race but you live and learn. I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
RESULT
- R. De Puniet (Fra/Apri) 49’11”337
- A. West (Aus/KTM) a 1”236
- C. Stoner (Aus/Apri) a 16”740
- D. Pedrosa (Esp/Hon) a 47”825
- S. Porto (Arg/Apri) a 1’03”449
250cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.
- Dani Pedrosa 156 points
- Casey Stoner 122 points
- Andrea Dovizioso 111 points
- Sebastián Porto 85 points
- Hiroshi Aoyama 71 points