Pedrosa takes over second in the championship with first victory of the season

It was a weekend of highs and lows for the Repsol Honda Team at the German Grand Prix, as Dani Pedrosa’s first win of the season contrasted with a last lap crash for teammate Casey Stoner. Both riders were challenging for the lead right from the off, leading up to a final lap in which Pedrosa set the fastest time of the race and Stoner crashed out on the penultimate corner.

Sachsenring is a favoured circuit for Pedrosa, who took his sixth win at the track today —his third consecutive victory in Germany in MotoGP. Reigning World Champion Casey Stoner started from pole, with Pedrosa joining him on the front row in third. Both got a good start and it was the Spaniard who grabbed the holeshot, followed by Stoner passing on the inside at a series of left handers.

The duo, as expected, set a pace that was impossible for the rest of the field to follow, opening up a gap. Stoner tried to pull away from Pedrosa, but the Spaniard stayed with him and launched an attack on lap 19 of 30. Pedrosa overtook at the end of the straight, gaining some breathing space when Stoner’s RC213V shook soon after.

Stoner did not give up and regained the lost ground, sitting behind his teammate and preparing a definitive move. Based on the pace of the final ten laps, both knew that it would go down to the wire. Two laps from the end, Pedrosa put in a race fastest time to pressure Stoner. On the final time around, with just two corners to go, Stoner fell and Pedrosa took the chequered flag —setting another fastest lap in the process.

The MotoGP World Championship moves on to Mugello for another race in seven days time, with Pedrosa and Stoner in second and third in the overall standings and 14 and 20 points, respectively, behind Jorge Lorenzo.

Dani Pedrosa 1st – 41:28.396
“I’m really very happy with this win. We finally made it happen and it’s great not only for me, but also for my team that never gave up, for my family and fans that have been pushing and supporting me all this time when we were taking second and third places, but missing out on the victory. The podiums we had this season were very important, but I really wanted to give a victory to my team and it arrived today at a circuit that I always enjoy. It’s been a really hard day though.

Casey had a superb race also and put a lot of pressure on me at the end, but I knew that I had the pace and that we both would need to fight for the victory until the last turn. I tried to brake hard, close all the doors and to take the win. Finally it is a great feeling and sure will give us a lot of motivation for the next races. It’s also good for the Championship, but we will not relax; victory this season has not been easy for any of us, so we have to keep pushing as we do.”

Source: Repsol Media Press Release