Despite missing the Jerez pre-season test, due to knee and forearm injuries that also hampered development of the factory Repsol Honda RC212V, Dani Pedrosa proved that last weekend’s surprise Motegi podium was no fluke by battling countryman Jorge Lorenzo for home pole honours at Jerez on Saturday.
Motegi winner Lorenzo prevailed, but only by 0.051sec over Pedrosa, who undoubtedly has a fighting chance of repeating his 2008 Jerez victory at a circuit where he has never finished lower than second as a MotoGP rider.
Rossi: We must be stronger on Sunday
Valentino Rossi will need to work hard if he is to extinguish team-mate Jorge Lorenzo’s fast growing momentum after the Spaniard followed up his first win of the season with his first pole position of ‘09, in front of his home fans at Jerez on Saturday.
Lorenzo raised eyebrows by catching and passing his fellow Fiat Yamaha rider for victory last weekend in Motegi, a result that also gave him the championship lead by one point over Rossi.
Rossi is still searching for his first win of the season after also finishing runner-up to Casey Stoner in Qatar, but managed just fourth place in Saturday’s qualifying session with a best lap time 0.709sec slower than the #99 - and The Doctor isn’t happy with his race set-up either.
Hamilton joins criticism of Formula 1 rule change
World champion Lewis Hamilton joined the criticism of Formula One’s decision to alter the way the title is decided.
Hamilton followed record seven-time champion Michael Schumacher in suggesting that awarding the title to the driver with the greatest number of race wins rather than the largest number of points was likely to do little or nothing to boost fans’ interest in the sport.
Had the new rule been in force last year, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa would have edged Hamilton for the title.
"It’s a shame what’s happening to F1,'’ Hamilton said in a statement provided by his McLaren team. "It’s hard to believe these recent decisions will improve things for the track-side spectators and TV viewers, who should always be our priority.'’
Dovizioso To Join Repsol Honda
Former 125 World Champion Andrea Dovizioso is to join the Repsol Honda Team for the 2009 MotoGP World Championship. The Italian talent will join Spaniard Dani Pedrosa in Honda’s official HRC squad, riding full-factory RC212V machinery. The announcement is a dream come true for Dovizioso, who has raced Hondas since 2002.
