Brno MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa urges Honda improvement

Dani Pedrosa admitted Honda still has to make major improvements to its factory RC212V machine after the Spaniard claimed a lonely second place in the Brno MotoGP clash yesterday.

Leading for a few brief seconds on the opening lap, Pedrosa was quickly overtaken by a hard charging Valentino Rossi and he could do little to retaliate when Jorge Lorenzo relegated him to third on lap four.

Pedrosa quickly slipped off the stunning pace of the Fiat Yamaha duo but gained second place when Lorenzo crashed out of the lead on lap 18.

The 23-year-old was outclassed by Yamaha’s factory YZR-M1, with his best lap time in the race a massive 0.6s away from Rossi’s best of 156.670.

Pedrosa himself was a further 0.7s clear of the fourth best time as the gulf between the leading MotoGP trio and the rest was evident in Brno.

Two wins in the last three races for Repsol Honda had raised hopes of a HRC revival, but that was quickly quashed in Brno and triple world champion Pedrosa said: “It is clear that we have got a lot of work to do.

“The Yamaha now is a very strong package and it was impossible for me to stay with them.

“I really pushed hard to stay with them for the first few laps but the pace just kept faster and faster and there was nothing I could do, even though I was pushing at my maximum.

“We need to do a lot of work to be running that pace and being closer to the front.”