Honda: Pedrosa can bounce back from Aragon nightmare

Dani Pedrosa is no stranger to bouncing back from adversity and he has been tipped to pick himself off the floor again after last weekend’s disastrous Motorland Aragon MotoGP.

The Repsol Honda virtually kissed goodbye to his hopes of capturing an elusive first premier class title when a high-side out of victory contention on lap six saw him fall 59-points behind teammate Marc Marquez with only four races remaining.

Pedrosa’s wretched luck deserted him again last Sunday when he fell after a rear wheel speed sensor cable was damaged and rendered his traction control useless.

The damage was caused by the slightest of touches from Marquez, who had run in too hot on the brakes for the tight Turn 12.

The incident once again put the aggressive riding style of Marquez under the spotlight and he will be summonsed to meet Race Direction with Pedrosa on the eve of the next round at the Sepang track in Malaysia.

Pedrosa’s title challenge has frequently come unstuck in the past through a combination of bad luck and injuries but HRC management are confident he can bounce back from this latest setback.

HRC Vice-President Shuhei Nakamoto told MCN: “Dani is a strong person, he can do it.”

And Honda boss Livio Suppo said he had full confidence that Pedrosa would be back fighting for victories in the last four races of 2013.

Suppo told MCN: “He is obviously super disappointed because he has seen the chance to win the championship go down and I can imagine his feeling. But Dani has been one of the strongest riders in this championship for many years. Of course the big target to win the championship is always close and he can’t quite catch it but he has the experience and a strong character to react from this.”