Dani Pedrosa pulls out of Australian MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa pulls out of Australian MotoGP
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa has withdrawn from Sunday's Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.
The former 2010 title contender made a questionable attempt to return just two weeks after suffering multiple collarbone fractures at Motegi.
Pedrosa has struggled in every session, qualified 15th out of the 17 riders and simply doesn't have the strength to last a race distance.
“After the operation in Spain my target was to come back in Australia," began Pedrosa.
"But having ridden in the three practice sessions here it's clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm lap-by-lap and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult - even more so with the strong winds here.
"Phillip Island is a very fast circuit, I have to grip the handlebars very tightly, and this makes me very tired and gives me a lot of pain."
Pedrosa, who lapped 3.2sec from pole, holds second in the world championship by 47 points over Valentino Rossi with 75 points remaining.
The Spaniard insisted it had been worth making the long journey to Australia.
"To ride around three seconds off the pace in the race tomorrow and maybe collect just a few points wouldn't make much sense. But I think it has been worth it to at least try to ride here because we really didn't know how I would be on the bike until we tried," he explained.
"Now, though, I don't want to take more risks so that I can recover in time for Estoril. I discussed the situation with HRC Team Director Kazuhiko Yamano and we have the same opinion.â€
"Unfortunately for Dani his physical condition is such that we have decided together that the best course of action is for him not to attempt to race tomorrow and instead to aim for a return in Portugal in two weeks' time," confirmed Yamano.
"It was worth Dani coming here and trying to ride because it was the only way to find out the real situation. But we have decided that a 27-lap race in conditions that have been very difficult all weekend would be too risky."
The former 2010 title contender made a questionable attempt to return just two weeks after suffering multiple collarbone fractures at Motegi.
Pedrosa has struggled in every session, qualified 15th out of the 17 riders and simply doesn't have the strength to last a race distance.
“After the operation in Spain my target was to come back in Australia," began Pedrosa.
"But having ridden in the three practice sessions here it's clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm lap-by-lap and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult - even more so with the strong winds here.
"Phillip Island is a very fast circuit, I have to grip the handlebars very tightly, and this makes me very tired and gives me a lot of pain."
Pedrosa, who lapped 3.2sec from pole, holds second in the world championship by 47 points over Valentino Rossi with 75 points remaining.
The Spaniard insisted it had been worth making the long journey to Australia.
"To ride around three seconds off the pace in the race tomorrow and maybe collect just a few points wouldn't make much sense. But I think it has been worth it to at least try to ride here because we really didn't know how I would be on the bike until we tried," he explained.
"Now, though, I don't want to take more risks so that I can recover in time for Estoril. I discussed the situation with HRC Team Director Kazuhiko Yamano and we have the same opinion.â€
"Unfortunately for Dani his physical condition is such that we have decided together that the best course of action is for him not to attempt to race tomorrow and instead to aim for a return in Portugal in two weeks' time," confirmed Yamano.
"It was worth Dani coming here and trying to ride because it was the only way to find out the real situation. But we have decided that a 27-lap race in conditions that have been very difficult all weekend would be too risky."
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