Pedrosa, Hayden set for 'strange' Shanghai

Posted by Dono

Friday, 25th April 2008

Dani Pedrosa heads to next weekend's Chinese Grand Prix looking to break clear of compatriot Jorge Lorenzo with a repeat of his debut 2006 MotoGP victory at the unusual Shanghai circuit.

After three rounds, Pedrosa and rookie rival Lorenzo are tied at the top of the 2008 world championship standings with a third, a second and a win each.

"We have had quite a good start to the season - on the podium at each of the first three races and one victory - and we are working hard to stay very competitive," said the Repsol Honda rider. "The tests we did at Estoril were useful, we worked on a few things that should help us in China, like improving front-end feeling and stability on the brakes.

"What I like the most about Shanghai is the width of the track. The surface is of good quality but a bit rough, probably due to the Formula One cars. The circuit layout isn't that great, it features some very strange corners and the balance between the straights, the tight corners and the faster corners isn't very good."

The stand-out feature of the futuristic Shanghai circuit, from a racing point of view, is its huge back straight - which, at 1.202km, is the longest on the MotoGP calendar.

Unfortunately for Pedrosa and Hayden, it seems that Honda's pneumatic-valve engine is still not performing well enough to be used at a grand prix and they will thus continue with last year's spring-valve design.

"One of the most important parts of the track is the back straight, which is very long, so you need good engine performance here," confirmed Pedrosa, fourth at Shanghai in 2007. "Braking is also very important at Shanghai. It's an unusual track and you need to ride relaxed and easy. The atmosphere is almost non-existent because the crowd isn't very big but the grandstands are huge."

Hayden has had a tougher start to the season than Pedrosa, but is closer to the front than his tenth in the standings suggests. The 2006 world champion rode to a close fourth place at Estoril and was chasing a podium at Estoril finish when he slid off.

It seems like we're making progress, Honda's working hard, the Michelin tyres are working good and I really enjoyed the bike at Estoril. We were up there all weekend, so we've just got to put the crash behind us and move on," he said.

"Shanghai is a strange track, my favourite thing is the surface, seems like it's always good and consistent. The track has got two big straightaways, the back straightaway is the highest top speed of the year and right after you've got one of the slowest corners in MotoGP, so it's really important to be stable on the brakes, so we worked on that during our tests at Estoril.

"You also need something good on horsepower, something you can do some drafting with.

"Turn one/two is quite unique and technical, with a lot of different lines, either sweep wide or stay low. And the corner coming onto the back straightaway is super important because it sets you up for that sixth-gear run. The facilities are amazing, it's probably the most over-the-top facility I've seen in my life, saying that, Indy is pretty spectacular too," he concluded.

First free practice for the Chinese Grand Prix takes place next Friday morning.

From : www.crash.net

• at 10:29 PM