Grip Issues Hinder Pedrosa at Indy
- Aug 10, 2015
- 2 min read
Dani Pedrosa looked strong through Friday and Staurday. The Spaniard was running consistent pace on long runs, whilst pole position looked possible but for a couple of wobbles on his final flying lap. Coming into the race, though lacking somewhat to team-mate Marc Marquez, Pedrosa was the dark horse.
But the low track temperatures, coupled with all of the pre-existing rubber being washed away as a result of rain earlier in the day, caused havoc with the grip the 2015 RC213V was willing to yield. Pedrosa, like all of the factory runners, opted for the hard Bridgestone's as they would comfortably do the distance. The problem with those tyres on that particular machine, though, is that it makes the bike a lot heavier in the corners. Because Dani is a short guy too this didn't help the issue, and he found himself fighting off the Yamaha of Valentino Rossi.
This came as some surprise to Pedrosa as Rossi had struggled all weekend with the agility of the M1 around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and after qualifying 8th it looked like Rossi was going to finish off the podium.
As the laps counted away and the fuel burnt off, Pedrosa was able to push that little bit more and take the fight back to the Italian who had passed him on lap 16. The pair swapped 3rd over the subsequent laps, but it was Pedrosa who led going onto the final tour of the 2.5-mile circuit. A mistake at turn ten allowed Rossi back through again and the Spaniard had to settle for 4th.
“It was a very physical race. We had to fight a lot with the bike because the grip was difficult. The surprise was Valentino. I knew my pace was a little slower than Marc and Jorge's, but after practice I thought I might be a little closer. However, Valentino made a big step forward as usual and we had to fight for the podium; on the last lap he overtook me on the second corner and I couldn't return the pass. I'm happy for Honda to have achieved the 700th victory, it's an honour to have played a part in this impressive statistic.”
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