Dani Pedrosa returned to racing to take part in the San Marino GP as a wild card, showing since Friday that he was in excellent shape and with a great pace. After an excellent qualifying that put him third on the grid, Pedrosa even managed to be the best KTM ahead of Brad Binder, and he was pleased with that at the end of the Sprint:
– Overall I’m very happy. The race went very well, I’m happy with the performance. My start was better this time, better than in Jerez, so it was good. The first corners were good and I managed to stay in a good position at the start of the race. I was surprised at the start of the race by the pace of (Jorge) Martín and (Marco) Bezzecchi. They were very strong in the first few laps.
The “Little Samurai” went on to explain that despite being faster than Francesco Bagnaia, he couldn’t find the space to attack the Italian Ducati rider and take the lowest place on the podium:
– After a few laps I was trying to pick up my pace and managed to catch up to Pecco (Bagnaia). But even with my faster pace, I couldn’t find the gap. I couldn’t find the place to pass him and get into third place. It’s a shame because it was a podium position. Unfortunately, I couldn’t overtake. Maybe it’s one of my weaknesses at the moment, overtaking others and being in the group, but overall it was good and I’m happy.
The KTM test rider also said that the reigning world champion proved on track why Maverick Vinales couldn’t make a successful overtake last week in Barcelona:
– Yes. I heard many times that Pecco was braking very late, and he actually showed me that.