Dani Pedrosa’s 2010 season so far

The Repsol Honda rider has had the highs and lows packed into his first in nine races, with the nature of his better results hinting at his capacity to be the main challenger to the Jorge Lorenzo in the battle for this year’s title.

Dani Pedrosa’s steady progress towards a consistent results this season has placed the Spaniard second in the Championship standings at the halfway point in the season, where at 138 points he currently sits 72 off the leader Jorge Lorenzo. The first nine rounds have produced some of the fantastic results for the Repsol Honda rider who has so far stood on the podium five times, winning twice, and his finer outcomes have been accompanied by some are frustrations too.

The campaign got off to an indifferent start for the Pedrosa with seventh in the Qatar, where he battled with set-up issues that had carried over from pre-season. Undeterred however he remained focused and the following round at the Jerez produced a solid reward, as he took pole position and battled with Lorenzo for the victory before finishing second.

The inconsistency which was to prove Pedrosa’s main obstacle in the early part of the season meant that he would place in fifth at Le Mans as he lost out on a podium finish on the final lap in his 150th GP start. Another strong response came though and this time it was a victory, from the pole position, at Mugello as the intense work put in by the 24 year-old and his team paid off.

A difficult next round at the Silverstone followed where Pedrosa crashed in qualifying and placed eighth in the race, but a succession of the constant results that produced the continuity he had been striving for then poured forth. Second place at Assen from seventh on the grid and then second in his home race at Catalunya paved the way to a second win of the 2010 at Sachsenring, where Pedrosa won a fight with Lorenzo for victory.

The first half of the campaign was rounded off with a first DNF of the season as Pedrosa crashed out at Laguna Seca whilst leading the race, but he remained optimistic despite the setback as he aims to then continue harnessing the aspects of his performance that have delivered him tastes of victory already.

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Daniel "Dani" Pedrosa (born September 29, 1985 in Sabadell, Spain)

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Spaniard Dani Pedrosa fastest in practice for the Honda

Dani Pedrosa, boosted by signing a new two-year deal with the Honda, continued his superb recent form by topping the practice timesheets during the Friday's running ahead of the inaugural Aragon Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Spaniard won the last two races in the Indianapolis and Misano and he topped the first of Friday's two sessions near the Alcaniz, setting a best time of one minute 50.506 seconds.

The day's second session, added to the schedule, along with a third session on Saturday morning, to allow the riders to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings, was washed out by the rain with no one able to better their times from the morning running.

Casey Stoner, who will partner Pedrosa at Honda next year, set the pace during that session following a heavy rain shower.

Pedrosa's dominance in the morning saw him beat the Ducati of Nicky Hayden into second by a full four tenths of a second, with the championship leader Jorge Lorenzo third for Yamaha ahead of the other Ducati of Stoner.

Marco Simoncelli was an excellent fifth on his Gresini Honda, ahead of Valentino Rossi and Hector Barbera, who continues to impress on the Aspar Ducati.

Andrea Dovizioso, Colin Edwards and Ben Spies rounded out the top 10.

But the wet afternoon session saw Pedrosa struggle badly and he will be hoping that the remainder of the weekend is dry after ending the second 45-minute session way back in 13th place, a full 3.6 seconds off Stoner's pace.

The Australian took advantage of a drying track surface to beat Lorenzo by over half a second in the dying moments.

Hayden, who looked strong throughout both sessions, was third fastest in the damp with Rossi fourth and Marco Melandri fifth on the second Gresini machine.

Lorenzo, who leads Pedrosa by 63 points in the standings, was disappointed at his relative lack of pace in the morning, but was happier with how his M1 handled in the wet.

"We are lacking a bit of grip but I hope we can improve our setting more tomorrow so we can make another step," he said.

"Unfortunately it rained this afternoon but it was good to get the chance to try our wet setting and it seems our bike was okay in these bad conditions.

"It was good to have two practice sessions today; even though the overall amount of time is the same over four days, four separate sessions makes it easier to get to know the circuit and what we need in order to be fast here."

The new circuit met with almost universal approval from the riders and teams, with Tech 3 Yamaha racer Spies among those enjoying the new challenge.

The Texan said: "I really like the track. It has got some good elevation changes that make it pretty cool and the first couple of the corners remind me of Istanbul Park (in Turkey) on the video game. You know it is a fun track when you want to stay out and ride and that's how I felt today.

"I was pleased with progress in the dry this morning and I'm really happy with how it went in the rain."

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Pedrosa excited at Aragón challenge

A new circuit and the continued chase of the Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo have the Repsol Honda rider in a highly motivated mood ahead of the weekend.

Dani Pedrosa is a focused man ahead of this weekend’s Gran Premio A-Style de Aragón where he will be going for a fifth win of the 2010 season. So far the Repsol Honda rider has already doubled his best-ever win tally in a season with his four wins to date, and with victory last time out at the Misano took his first back-to-back premier class successes.

At 63 points off Championship leader and rival Jorge Lorenzo the task that faces him may appear daunting at first sight, but the fact that Pedrosa has recouped 14 points in the last two rounds and still has 150 to ride for in the remaining six races paints a far more open picture.

This weekend will see the 24 year-old face off against Lorenzo on home soil as the World Championship makes its first ever visit to the new Motorland Aragón circuit, a track that Pedrosa scoped out back in July in a private test.

“I’m looking forward to arriving at the Motorland Aragón and trying the new track on the RC212V,” he said. “I did some laps in July with a Honda CBR1000RR street bike and I really enjoyed the layout – I loved the circuit. It’s very different to the ones we are used to racing at in the MotoGP Championship, and so it will be really interesting this weekend. The circuit combines fast and slow corners which are quite technical, and the last straight and finish line section is going to be amazing. There are also some blind turns where you need to look for the references outside the track. The facilities are very high spec and it looks like the fans are in for a treat at this race.”

Pedrosa has finished second to Lorenzo in both the Spanish rounds so far this year at Jerez and Catalunya, and arrives at Aragón with a renewed confidence following his recent dominant run of form.

“It’s always very nice to race in Spain and I can imagine that the atmosphere will be incredible; I’m looking forward to meeting the Spanish fans again,” he said. “The team and I also arrive in a very good mood thanks to the great job we have been doing and our good results in the last races. It will be a challenge for everybody this weekend and we need to make the most of the practice sessions – in this area we have improved a lot in the second part of the season. Our bike has been working well at very different circuits, so I hope we can also do a good job in Aragón. I’m really looking forward to this Grand Prix.”

It is not just Pedrosa and Lorenzo who are competing closely having both now taken 12 premier class victories in their careers. After the former’s win at Misano Honda and Yamaha have taken exactly the same number of MotoGP victories during the four-stroke era at 59 each.

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