Marquez and Pedrosa prepare for home GP in Catalunya
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa are looking forward to their home GP in Catalunya on Sunday. The race follows a positive showing two weeks ago in Mugello, where both riders had a strong race pace and fought hard for a victory and a podium position, respectively.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is located in the hills just 12 kilometres north of Barcelona. Its 4.7km track features a blend of eight right-hand turns and five lefts, and both riders can claim strong records there. Marquez won the 125cc race in 2010, in Moto2 he finished second in 2011 and third in 2012, and in MotoGP he took the final podium position in the 2013 race and won in 2014. Last year Marc crashed out of the race from second place on lap 3.
Dani has been victorious in all classes in Catalunya, winning the 125cc race in 2003, the 250cc GP in 2005 and the MotoGP race in 2008. He has earned six additional podium finishes in the MotoGP class, including each of the last five years, with last year’s third place being his first podium of 2015 following a tough start to the season due to a surgery.
After Sunday’s GP, the team will remain in Montmeló for a one-day test on Monday.
Marc Marquez
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING: 2ND – 105 POINTS
“There’s nothing like racing at home in front of your crowd and your fan club to make you feel good and give you extra motivation, even if in the end you must try and be as professional as always and to completely focus on the job at hand. We’ll see how it goes there, and as always we’ll work hard on the bike setup in order to make the most of what we have, an approach that has worked well enough so far. I know that Honda is working at 100% and at Montmeló we’ll give our best to get another good result. Then at the Monday post-race test we’ll see if we’re able to find that half a tenth that could help us a lot, as we were able to do last year on the same occasion.”
Marc Marquez Statistics
Date of Birth 17/02/1993
Birthplace Lleida, (Catalonia) – Spain
Height 168 cm
Weight 59 kg
Hobbies Mountain Biking, Video games
Racing Number 93
First Race 1998 “Enduro per nens”
Grand Prix Debut 2008 125cc Portugal GP (KTM 125 FRR)
GPs raced 138
GP pole positions 60 (14 in 125cc, 14 in 250cc, 32 in MotoGP)
Total GP podiums 83 (14 x 125cc, 25 x Moto2, 44 x MotoGP)
Total GP wins 52 (10 x 125cc, 16 x Moto2, 26 x MotoGP)
First GP Win 2010 125cc Italian GP (Derbi RSA 125)
World titles 4 (1 x 125cc – 2010, 1 x Moto2 – 2012, 2 x MotoGP – 2013, 2014)
DANI PEDROSA CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING: 4TH – 66 POINTS
“I’m looking forward to racing at home in Catalunya, at a track I love and where I’ve had some very good results in the past. Last year I took my first podium of the season there, and it was the first race where I really felt I was coming back after the surgery to my arms. I hope to be able to do well again in front of my fan club and my entire home crowd. We’ll work on the bike setup, using what we learned at the last race to see if we can get something extra, trying to keep the momentum from Mugello, which was my best GP so far this season in terms of feeling on the bike during the race. Then we’ll see if we can take a further step forward in the post-race test on Monday.”
Dani Pedrosa Statistics
Date of Birth 29/09/1985
Birthplace Sabadell, (Catalonia) – Spain
Height 160 cm
Weight 51kg
Hobbies Cycling, Motocross, Windsurfing, Cinema
Racing number 26
First race 1997 Pocket bike race
Grand Prix debut 2001. 125cc Japanese GP, Suzuka – (Honda RS125R)
GPs raced 250
GP pole positions 46 (9 in 125cc, 9 in 250cc, 28 in MotoGP)
Total GP podiums 142 (17 x 125cc, 24 x 250cc, 101 x MotoGP)
Total GP wins 51 (8 x 125cc, 15 x 250cc, 28 x MotoGP)
First GP win 2002. 125cc Dutch GP, Assen – (Honda RS125R)
World titles 3 (1 x 125cc – 2003, 2 x 250cc – 2004, 2005)