MotoGP Special Report: Dani Pedrosa- 2010 Season Review
Finishing runner-up in the 2007 MotoGP World Championship and 3rd in last year’s standings, Dani Pedrosa’s steady progress towards consistent results in the 2010 season had placed him on the podium finish proving some fantastic results for the
Repsol Honda rider.
The Spaniard stood on the podium 9 out of 15 rounds and even topping the chart 4 times. This was the second time in Dani Pedrosa’s career in the MotoGP World Championship that he had been the runner-up overall.
The Championship was a bumpy ride for Pedrosa. The first round at Qatar had him land on 7th in the standing due to several set-up issues following from the pre-session. This did not demoralize the Spaniard and his consistent determination lead
him a far more reliable season here-on as he battled with Lorenzo for the victory before finishing 2nd in his home soil.
Pedrosa’s main obstacle seemed to be inconsistency, that even after a promising result at Jerez; the Repsol Honda still could not muster podium finish at Le Mans in the final lap. Another strong response came through and this time it was a victory, from
pole position at Mugello as the intense work put in by the 24year-old and his team finally paid off.
Pedrosa struggled hard to gain momentum but ironically crashed in the qualifying round placing him 8th when the race commenced but his consistent results being runner-up once and even winning the race at Mugello, had him 4th in the
overall ranking by this fifth race of the championship.
2nd place at Assen from 7th on the grid and then 2nd again in his home race at Catalunya paved the way to a 2nd win of 2010 at Sachsenring, where Pedrosa won a fight with Lorenzo for victory. Ironically Pedrosa
had his first DNF of the season reaching the season half as he crashed out at Laguna Seca whilst leading the race, but he remained optimistic despite the setback as he aims to continue harnessing the aspects of his performance that have delivered him tastes
of victory already.
Regaining conscience at Automotodrom Brno, Pedrosa struggled hard yet quoted that he was happy to make podium return after the last test where he crashed out in the 11th lap. He had his consecutive wins at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix
in the US and again a repeated win at the Aperol Di San Marino. This double victory helped with the podium finish at Argon took him ahead in the league with 228 points in the Championship.
This had also doubled Pedrosa’s previous best victory tally in the category, bringing him up to four but he was still in the running for the championship lead with Jorge Lorenzo 52-points ahead of him and five races left for the MotoGP World Championship
2010.
This was the time when Pedrosa and Repsol Honda were aiming high but unaware of the disaster waiting ahead of them. Pedrosa had a severe crash at Motegi leading a collar-bone fracture ruling him out for the races in Japan, Malaysia and Australia. This indeed
ended the hopes for the Japanese team of pushing for the world title.
HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) delighted to announce the extension of the long-standing partnership with Repsol as title sponsor of its factory team for another two seasons. In addition to this, HRC was also in delight to confirm their third rider in the
season 2011. Repsol Honda Team will be racing with the highly determined and strong team line-up of Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stonner.
This shall be the sixth season in the premier class for Dani Pedrosa on the factory Honda team, season 2011.
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