MOTOGP ROUND 3, LE MANS, SUNDAY 23rd MAY

Solid points scoring from Arai riders, but work still to do

DANI PEDROSA, REPSOL HONDA

Race Position: Fifth Championship Position: Fourth

“I WAS MAKING A LOT OF MISTAKES”

In the early stages of the race, Pedrosa looked on course to fight for a win in his 150th Grand Prix. He tracked the leaders for the first half of the race, staying within half a second of Rossi at the head of the field and exchanging fastest laps with the front pair. On lap ten he set what was at that point the fastest lap of the race, but then slowly began to lose touch with the leaders and fell back into the clutches of his hard-charging team-mate. Pedrosa put up as much resistance as possible, but was powerless to resist as Dovizioso, and then Hayden passed him on the final lap.

“Well of course I’m not satisfied to have finished in this way because we were able to stay near the leaders for the first part of the race and then dropped back. Losing two places on the final lap is not a good feeling. My start was OK and I could stay near the front in the first laps but later in the race I was making a lot of mistakes trying to maintain my pace. I had a bit of a rear brake issue that meant I couldn’t get the bike into the turns as I wanted and I was fighting the bike a bit. It’s an important part of the season coming up with many races in a short time, so we must work hard and do better in Mugello.”

NICKY HAYDEN, MARLBORO DUCATI

Race Position: Fourth Championship Position: Fifth

“I JUST DUG IN…”

Nicky Hayden produced another valiant challenge for a podium position at Le Mans, finishing fourth. In the process Hayden once again took the fight to the frontrunners, passing Pedrosa on the final lap, and crossing the line just 1.5 seconds behind Dovizioso in third.

“I’m about as happy with fourth as you could wish to be because I’ve struggled this weekend and once the race got started I went backwards pretty quickly. I just dug in and started going a little faster. I was pushing so hard to try and get those guys and finish on the podium but I couldn’t get close enough. As we say in America ‘close only counts in horseshoes and washers’ but I know I couldn’t have ridden any harder today and the team did a great job, so my heartfelt thanks go to them. Fourth place is okay here but it won’t be good enough at Mugello so we have more work to do there.”


COLIN EDWARDS, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3

Race Position: Twelfth Championship Position: Eighth

“RIGHT NOW I’M STRUGGLING TO FIND AN ANSWER …”
Colin Edwards was engaged in an exciting mid-pack fight that included team-mate Ben Spies, Loris Capirossi and rookies Marco Simoncelli and Hector Barbera. Despite not feeling 100 per cent comfortable with the race set-up of his Yamaha, Edwards rode with dogged determination to hold a place in the top ten until lap 23. He never gave up but was unable to prevent dropping to 12th by the end of the race.

“I know this bike inside out and I’ve had some of the best races of my career at Le Mans, but right now I just can’t seem to fix some of the problems I’m having. I can only go fast if I’m able to ride comfortable and smooth and at the moment I can’t do that because I don’t have the confidence. I’m working really hard with my guys at Tech 3 but we don’t seem to be able to get on top of the problem at the moment. I spent a lot of the race behind Simoncelli and he was able to brake deeper than me. As soon as I’d brake and lean the bike over, I started to have a problem and right now I’m struggling to find an answer. It is annoying because I came here expecting a much better result but we’ll regroup and try and be much stronger at Mugello.”

HIROSHI AOYAMA, INTERWETTEN HONDA

Race Position: Eleventh Championship Position: Eleventh

“I THINK WE GREW UP”

There was drama for Hiroshi Aoyama even before the start of Sunday's French MotoGP at Le Mans, when the Interwetten Honda rider needed a late tyre change; he felt that there was a problem with his front Bridgestone tyre on the way to the grid and he took things easy for the first few laps while he scrubbed in the new rubber. After that, Aoyama spent much of the race involved in a close battle for eighth, but made a mistake braking for the Chemin aux Boeufs chicane with five laps remaining, which forced him to take to the slip-road, dropping him to the back of the group. He returned to the track to pass Edwards with two laps remaining, securing eleventh place.

“We found a much better set up and I was able to stay with the other riders. We were competitive today and I think we grew up. I think we take a lot with us after this race and I hope we can keep improving. Of course I am not really happy with the result as I lost two positions because of a small mistake I did. I could have been further in front. I was able to attack the eighth position, but I think that this target was too big and I had to step back again not to risk anything. I think we gave our best here and I will try that again in the next race.”

The next MotoGP round is at Mugello, on 6th June.

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