Pedrosa to shine in Shanghai?

Dani Pedrosa returns to the scene of his debut MotoGP victory this weekend in China where, on paper, the Spaniard has an excellent chance of ending his longest losing streak since 2002.

Last year at Shanghai the rookie took a clean sweep of pole position, race win and the fastest lap, but the Repsol Honda rider is yet to win a race on the new-for-2007 800cc machines and his losing streak, since Donington Park 2006, now stands at eleven races.

Pedrosa's main obstacle this weekend is expected to come from the factory Ducati riders, in particular Dani's former 250GP rival Casey Stoner. The young Australian has won two of the three rounds so far held this season and - like the three other Desmosedici competitors - can count upon a clear top speed advantage along Shanghai's seemingly endless back straight.

But while some RC212V riders have complained bitterly about a lack of top speed, Pedrosa's Honda has been closest to the Ducatis so far this season - and, unlike Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, he was able to keep in touch with Stoner along the sizable Qatar main straight during round one.

Pedrosa will start this Sunday's race third in the championship, a full race win behind Stoner, after being taken out on lap one of the recent Turkish Grand Prix. Pedrosa suffered bruising to his chest and neck during the tumble, but a bigger concern will surround tyres.

For 2007 the Michelin and Bridgestone riders have to select their tyres before the grand prix weekend begins - and Shanghai will be the second event, after Istanbul, where no pre-season testing data is available to help make that choice. The result in Istanbul was a Michelin dominated front row in qualifying, with Pedrosa second, but an all-Bridgestone top six in the race.

"I'm looking forward to racing in China because I want to put Turkey behind me as soon as possible," admitted Pedrosa. "I've still got a bit of a stiff neck and some discomfort in my chest, but I'll be ok to begin first practice on Friday. It was a shame about the result in Turkey, but these things can happen when you have a lot of bikes going into a slow corner - it's racing.

"The Shanghai track has very good grip from the asphalt but it's not my favourite track from a layout point of view - there doesn't seem to be a good balance between the long straights and the slow corners. However, of course I have very good memories from my first MotoGP race win there last year. The weather can be very wet here so we'll just have to hope that it stays dry this year.

"It will be interesting to see how the 800s feel and perform on this circuit – I think the straights could feel very long! And again we'll have to work well with Michelin to choose the right tyres on Thursday because, like Turkey, we haven't tested here on the 800," he concluded.

Crash