Honda rider Pedrosa makes up for Misano disappointment in Aragón

Dani Pedrosa returned from his Misano non-finish to take victory in Sunday’s Gran Premio Iveco de Aragón, overhauling title rival Jorge Lorenzo before winning by 6.4 seconds. The Repsol Honda Team rider, who had started second at MotorLand Aragón, now trails his Yamaha Factory Racing opponent by 33 points.

The result marks Pedrosa’s fourth win of 2012 and 19th of his MotoGP™ career, one day after celebrating his 27th birthday.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Repsol Media

"It was good overall, especially after all of the problems at the last race," he commented. "This weekend I had a crash and broke one bike, so it wasn’t easy for the mechanics, but I was calm and well-focussed. I started well and was able to stay with him and keep the pace."

Pedrosa stole the lead from Lorenzo at Turn 12 on the sixth lap, then extended the margin which became only greater when the latter suffered a large slide at the first corner.

"I tried to maintain my rhythm and put some good laps in, so I was able to open up a good gap and the bike was working quite well," Pedrosa continued. "The bike was working well overall and especially in the corners. Thanks to all of the mechanics, my fans and my family – this victory is for them."

Rea takes another step at Aragón

Repsol Honda’s substitute rider Jonathan Rea was on good form in Aragón today, taking a big step in only his second GP outing by taking seventh and closing the gap to the front.

The substitute for the injured Casey Stoner was charging from the start, having to deal with San Carlo’s Álvaro Bautista in the early stages. He then tried to alter the electronic settings on his bike to improve his lap times, before ultimately sticking with what he had. This then saw him bring the RC213V home just 10 seconds off the front.

Jonathan Rea

"I'm happy I achieved my goal of reducing the gap to the guys at the front, in the end we managed it by 10 seconds but it was another difficult race as I found myself on my own again. At the beginning I let Álvaro have too big a gap and when I tried to make a push, it wasn't enough and we were only taking tenths out of him but I'm quite satisfied and I've learned a lot. In this race it was quite confusing for me as I was playing with the traction control buttons, the torque settings and the engine braking just to try and figure out what was happening, then there came a point where I told myself just to ride this thing and see what happens. It's been amazing to get this chance and I'm not totally sure what's happening for Motegi but my best wishes go to Casey and I hope he comes back and shows the World the rider he is and ends his final season on a high. I want to thank all of HRC and the Repsol Honda Team for this opportunity and for treating me like one of their own, not like a replacement rider, it's been an amazing experience. This is my tenth year in the Honda family and hopefully I can come back here someday."

Source: Repsol Honda Team