MotoGP
In his second blog entry for the 2011 MotoGP season, Repsol’s Dani Pedrosa discussed the physical condition of his healing shoulder, and some of his rivals, including Valentino Rossi.
Pedrosa remarked on Rossi’s not-so-fast position of 11th overall at the first official test of 2011 MotoGP earlier this month in Sepang, saying regardless of Rossi’s early performance, other riders shouldn’t trust the nine-time World Champion.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda MotoGP) says: "The great unknown quantity will perhaps be Rossi. It’s his first year with Ducati and in Malaysia he wasn’t amongst the fastest riders. But Rossi is Rossi, and you can never rely on anything. Even when he’s in last place on the Saturday he still has the capacity to surprise."
Unlike Rossi, Pedrosa’s performance at the Sepang test was nearly flawless on the Honda RC212V. He finished the test second overall, just 0.013 of a second slower than San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli.
This displays the progress Pedrosa is having while recovering from his shoulder injury. The 25-year-old Spaniard fractured his collarbone in four places at Motegi last year. Pedrosa says a bulk of his training is "mainly focusing to recover the strength I need on my shoulder."
Pedrosa then gave his impressions of his other team members, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, and rivals from the factory Yamaha MotoGP squad, reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo and the American Ben Spies.
Dani Pedrosa says: "Ours is a strong team, with Stoner and Dovizioso. There are also riders who’ve been very good in the first Test, such as Simoncelli and Aoyama. Anybody can give you a surprise."
"Right now the Honda RC212V seems to be functioning well. We’ll see what happens when we get to the first GP of the year, because everything could change there. You never know, but at the moment everything points towards a tough World Championship.
"The Yamaha continues to have a good rhythm lap upon lap. Lorenzo, as the defending Champion, is a rival to beat, and Spies had a great season in 2010 and will certainly be better this year."
Pedrosa will be back on the track for the second of three pre-season MotoGP tests on Feb. 22-24, 2011 at Sepang in Malaysia.
