Sachsenring MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa relieved to end victory drought

Dani Pedrosa was relieved to finally end his long-running MotoGP victory drought after a dramatic ending to yesterday’s Sachsenring clash in Germany.

The Repsol Honda rider was winless since last October’s Japanese Grand Prix at the Twin Ring Motegi but he fought off relentless pressure from team-mate Casey Stoner to claim a third straight Sachsenring success.

Pedrosa grabbed the lead from Stoner on lap 19 but he couldn’t shake off the Australian and their duel came down to a tense final lap.

Pedrosa rode a fantastic final lap to record the fastest lap of the race and his late speed forced an uncharacteristic error from Stoner.

Stoner had planned to line-up Pedrosa for an attack at the final corner but he lost the front-end of his RC213V at the penultimate corner and crashed out.

Pedrosa’s victory moved him to within 14-points of world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and he told MCN: “Winning is the best feeling for the rider. When you do second or third it is always a good feeling but when you win it is definitely extra.

“You feel perfect but not only for yourself but also the people that work with you. They push hard and it can be frustrating for everybody when you are not winning for such a long time. When your mechanics give 100% and you can’t win it is disappointing, so I want to win always but not only for me.”

Pedrosa is in his seventh season in MotoGP and he has not really seriously contended for the title in any.

Injuries have often wrecked his challenge but so far in 2012 he has remained injury free and he has been the model of consistency with a worst result of fourth and seven podiums in eight races.

Asked by MCN whether this was his best attempt to capture an elusive first premier class crown he said: “I try to be smart and to ride good but at this level when you are against Casey and Jorge it is so tricky and they are fast everywhere and in every condition and it is very difficult to beat them.

“You can see also with Casey that he wasn’t feeling all that good but he still put up a super race. You have to be perfect at every track to keep a chance of the championship.”

For more coverage from the German Grand Prix, see the July 11 issue of MCN.