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Honda rider quotes, GP France race

In MotoGP

19 maggio 2008

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 4th – fastest lap 1m 34.469s lap 5. “I am sorry because we could have been on the podium but in the race I wasn’t able to go as fast as I had gone during practice. From the beginning of the race I had some issues with the front tyre. I couldn’t brake the way I wanted to brake. When we chose our race tyres we tried hard to choose the best tyres for the race, so we didn’t expect things to turn out like they did. Then in the second half of the race I started to lack some rear grip. When Lorenzo passed me I tried to go with him and not lose contact but I couldn’t manage it. I gave my maximum and despite the problems we finished fourth, which isn’t so bad. We are second equal in the championship and we will continue to work hard to achieve better results at the next races. We stay here tomorrow for one day of testing when we will try to understand what happened today and make another step forward.”

Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 6th - fastest lap 1m 34.727s lap 27. “Today I didn’t start very well and at the beginning of the race it was hard to gain positions, but I was soon moving through the field when I caught up with James Toseland. We overtook each other a few times, but when I was in one of the downhill corners, I was accelerating when James hit me very hard from behind. Thank God I didn’t crash but his front tyre hit my body and my leather suit shows marks from his tyre and also the bike has some black rubber marks on the rear part of it. For this reason I lost a lot of time and probably without this fact I could have done even better by the end of the race. We have to do better in qualifying – we know that – and also work to have a better pace in the race.”

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 8th - fastest lap 1m 35.182s lap 10. “That wasn’t too pretty. All weekend we’ve been missing something, the pace hasn’t been there. I got a good start and recovered a couple of positions but couldn’t go with the group I needed to go with. I was hanging in there, then I ran off the track in turn six, got in just a little bit hot, didn’t make it and that lost me three positions. I came back on, had a little dice with Loris over the last few laps but it wasn’t the result we wanted. It was definitely tough conditions, it wasn’t just a few drops of rain it was straight-up raining through some parts of the track. With the tyres being that hot the lap times didn’t suffer too bad, but I was kinda hoping the rain would come down and let us swap bikes and try something different, but it didn’t happen. This has never been an easy track for me, I’d say Le Mans is the worst track for me on the calendar. Tomorrow we’ll work on chassis stuff. I need to try getting some momentum going, especially for the tracks I really love that are coming up. I need to be strong when I get to them, I need to use the people around me to find what I need.”

Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 9th - fastest lap 1m 35.191s lap 9. "It was not easy for me today because I finally made a good start but another rider pushed me outside the chicane and when I rejoined the race I was ninth. Hopkins overtook me in the inside in the downhill and we both went wide. So I’ lost five places and was 14th. For the following eight laps my pace was not consistent but I started to push hard to be back in the top ten. Finally I was behind Capirossi and Hayden but was to late to pass them. I feel satisfied anyway because this race was a lottery due to mixed conditions of the track".

Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 10th - fastest lap 1m 35.430s lap 4. “Unfortunately today I couldn’t ride as I like. Starting from the 5th row complicated the race from the start, moreover in the first laps I lost the contact with the group of the riders in front of me. Only when it started to rain I found a good rhythm and I could be faster. I reached the guys in front of me but, at the end De Puniet overtook me and I lost the ninth position. I’m not satisfied about my result even if I confess that thanks to some modifications done to the suspensions, the balance of the bike has improved. Tomorrow we will stay here for one day test in preparation of the next race”

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 12th fastest lap 1m 35.327s lap 8. “Despite my position in the classification, I’m quite happy about today as I could stay with the group of the other satellite riders in the first part of the race. Unfortunately, when it started raining, I couldn’t keep the pace because I suffered from chattering and it was impossible to feel the front. I didn’t know if it was because of the tyre or because the track was wet. I lost the contact with the group, finishing 12th. At the end we lost the silencer, so i had less power, but fortunately the race was over.”