Dani Pedrosa: Mugello Wire-To-Wire

MotoGP Results

The Italian Grand Prix had witnessed another masterly performance from Dani Pedrosa, who has claimed his first win of the season in the Italian Grand Prix.

Winner of the pole position, the Repsol rider had no rivals and dominated the race from the start to the chequered flag. His teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, had a fantastic race, climbing five positions in the first lap to finish in a hard-fought third place in front of all of his tiffosi.

The over 76,000 fans that filled the green banks of the Mugello circuit were able to witness another display from a stratospheric Dani Pedrosa.

He warned of his abilities in FP3, when he clocked up the best time in the qualifying, repeating this position in this morning’s warm-up and as soon as the red lights went out today, he left his rivals with no options.

The Repsol rider did not hesitate and was at the front of the pack by the first turn. As precise as a clock, Pedrosa destroyed the stopwatch in the first few laps, setting a pace that nobody could follow.

His constant 1 minute 49 second laps allowed him to open a gap, while his rivals tried in vain to follow him. Lap after lap, the Spanish rider was the fastest of all the riders on the track, also setting a new circuit record in lap five.

He continued to ride with a consistently above that of any rival, riding with an advantage of more than six seconds over his pursuers after half the race.

Riding at less than a second behind Lorenzo, Dovizioso could not beat the Spaniard, ending in a valuable and hard-fought third place, with which the Repsol Honda Team has put both of its riders on the primer class podium once again.

Thanks to his third place, Dovizioso is now fourth in the overall standings, 32 points behind Lorenzo and seven behind his teammate Pedrosa.

Dani Pedrosa says: “It’s an unbelievable feeling to win again and I’m so happy for myself and the Repsol Honda Team. We’ve been working really hard and had some problems through the winter and in the first races, so I’m really delighted with this victory, especially after leading at Jerez for so long but not quite making it.”

“It looks like we are back near where we need to be and the team deserves the victory. I had a great feeling on the bike today, especially at the beginning section of the race and I could open up a gap. To be honest I didn’t see who was behind me, I just looked for the gap on my pit board and tried to ride consistently. It’s important that we are competitive now because we have one weekend off and then three races in a row.”

“The next race is at Silverstone which is a legendary track so I hope that we can match this kind of performance there – and also that this part of England has better weather! I’d like to thank the team, and also the fans here for pushing for Valentino because he’s having a hard time and everyone in the paddock wishes him well”.

This was Pedrosa 8th win the top class and his first since the last race of last year. Pedrosa’s first premier class win came back in 2006. His complete MotoGP careet-to-date win record is recorded below.