Here’s what Dani said about the qualifying results.

Dani Pedrosa:
“It was a very difficult session, extremely hot, I couldn’t breathe inside the helmet. We had a small crash in the front that I didn’t expect, but was able to go back and go faster and take my second pole of the season. I thought I would be able to improve a little more at the end and get closer to the time I did yesterday, but I found some traffic on my final run. Anyway, it’s good to be on pole and I hope our race pace can be even better. We have to work on the set up and make a good rear tyre choice because our rivals are also very strong. It’s going to be very physically demanding for everybody. To have three Repsol Honda riders on the front row is very good, but we cannot forget the other rivals and we must keep focused to finish the weekend in the best way.”

Casey Stoner has been crowned the world champion of 2011, congratulations to Casey!
Still want Dani Pedrosa to win the world champion title though. Next year?!

Dani fractured his right collarbone in Le Mans, France. He was unable to participate in Catalunya and Silverstone GP due to this injury. Here’s hoping for speedy healing!

Also, check out MotoGP.com interview with Dani here

Here’s what he said.

I’m very happy for today’s win, but more than the win, I’m happy for my condition and it seems that my surgery was finally successful. I was trying to rest my arm at times as it was cramping with 15 laps to go. I was riding behind Lorenzo and waiting for the numbness to come together with the loss of power, but it didn’t come! I’m just so happy to see that the surgery has worked, it’s been around six months with this and it’s a big relief. For the race, I was riding at my best, Lorenzo is amazing here, always riding so smooth and fast and I was trying to stay with him. In the end, I felt comfortable and tried to make a move and I was successful. I’m very happy to win here, it’s my first win on this track and thanks to all the doctors, my physio and trainer because it’s been hard work and finally we got a win.

Source

Race results Estoril GP, May 1 2011
1. Pedrosa
2. Lorenzo
3. Stoner
4. Dovizioso
5. Rossi
6. Edwards
7. Aoyama
8. Crutchlow
9. Hayden
10. De Puniet
11. Elias
12. Capirossi
13. Bautista

Dani Pedrosa has undergone successful surgery at Teknon Medical Centre, in Barcelona, to decompress his left subclavian artery and is expected to recover satisfactorily.

Dani Pedrosa will remain in hospital for a further 48 hours to continue treatment with analgesia and anti-inflammatories. Next week he will visit the doctors again to determine his rehabilitation, in order to participate in the Grand Prix of Portugal, to be held in Estoril on May 1st.

To read the complete article, click here.

Here’s a quote from Dani

“I’m disappointed, not for the race I had, but for the physical problems I had again with my left arm. Already in practice I felt something, but I was not sure if it could be that bad. At the end I couldn’t grab the handlebar and in the last 7-8 laps I couldn’t use the clutch at all. I was just holding the arm and I was suffering a lot. The bike was perfect all race, I had the chance to win but I had a very hard time, one of the toughest races of my life. I don’t know what I can do because I should be ok after the rest I had this winter. I did the tests and everything was in order. I feel sorry for my team as well, because the bike was very good, fast, perfect also in the corners. I’m proud of how I’ve been riding, I’ve been fighting with Casey in this circuit, as nobody else did in the past, but at the same time, I feel sad because I don’t know what the future will bring. I know we will go to Jerez in two weeks, where the bike will run very well, and I’m very strong and fast, but I don’t know what will happen”.
Source

Race Results
1. Stoner
2. Lorenzo
3. Pedrosa
4. Dovizioso
5. Simoncelli
6. Spies
7. Rossi
8. Edwards
9. Hayden
10. Aoyama
11. Crutchlow
12. Barbera
13. Abraham

Here are the qualifying results/starting grid position for today race.

1. Stoner
2. Pedrosa
3. Lorenzo
4. Simoncelli
5. Spies
6. Barbera
7. Dovizioso
8. Crutchlow
9. Rossi
10. Edwards
11. De Puniet
12. Aoyama
13. Hayden
14. Capirossi
15. Abraham
16. Elias

“We did a good job today, especially in FP3. We concentrated on doing a good lap at the beginning and then we were focused on the pace. I’m happy about how is everything going – even if there are still some places where we know we can do better and improve some tenths. We need to keep our concentration to do that tomorrow. For the qualifying session, our target is to be on the front row. Here in Qatar, my best position on the grid has been a sixth place and I would really like to be on the front row tomorrow. This afternoon we tried both tyres, hard and medium and both worked well. My feeling is that the hard compound is better for the race distance, even if the race is one hour later than practice today and the softer compound is the best option for the qualifying session”.

Read complete article here

Hi everyone!

Every time I talk to you, there is less time left to the start of the MotoGP world championship, and the truth is that I really want to start racing. These last few days, as you know, I’ve packed in plenty of preparation to get into the best shape possible for the last pre-season test in Qatar. It is a different circuit and its characteristics do mean you have to prepare as intensely as possible.

The latest results we obtained in Sepang tests make us optimistic for the start of the world championship, optimistic but with our feet on the ground. Our goal now is to verify in Qatar the good results we have had so far.

Read the complete blog post here