Dani Pedrosa becomes eighth winner of the season at Misano

Dani Pedrosa has won the San Marino GP at Misano, becoming the eighth winner in the MotoGP class this season, a new record.

Pedrosa qualified poorly on Saturday, starting down in eighth, but was able to perform in the race.

At the start, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were the pace setters. The Yamaha pair were able to get away quickly, and lead the rest of the pack. Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales attempted to stick with them, but the pace of the Yamaha’s was too much.

Rossi was able to overtake Lorenzo, to the delight of the home fans, and it looked like he was going to ease to victory. However, Pedrosa had pace. The Spaniard put in the fastest lap of the race and managed to overtake teammate Marquez and Lorenzo.

Dani was then after Valentino and was able to overtake him with only a few laps left to go. Rossi was able to set a personal best time but didn’t have the pace to catch up to Pedrosa.It was, therefore, Pedrosa who won, taking his first victory of the season after a tough few months on the Honda. Valentino Rossi was second, but will be disappointed he was unable to perform in front of his home crowd. He does, however, cut the gap between himself and Marc Marquez slightly in the championship, as the Spaniard finished fourth. It will still take a lot for the Italian to take the crown, however.

Jorge Lorenzo recovered from a tough few weeks to take third, with the Spaniard rueing a simple lack of pace for why he was unable to challenge Rossi and Pedrosa. Marquez was fourth, but still, has a good lead in the world championship.

Silverstone winner Maverick Vinales was fifth, whilst Andrea Dovizioso and Michele Pirro were sixth and seventh. Cal Crutchlow originally crossed the line eighth, but a penalty saw him move down to ninth. This meant Pol Espargaro moved up a place and became the top independent rider.

Alvaro Bautista again gave Aprilia a top ten finish, with the Spaniard coming home in tenth. Danilo Petrucci was eleventh, whilst Stefan Bradl was twelfth. Hector Barbera, Eugene Laverty and Scott Redding were the final points scorers.

Alex Lowes’ impressive start on the Tech 3 Yamaha faltered, as the Briton crashed out of the race. Javier Fores also failed to finish, meaning it would be no points for the two Superbike riders.

The MotoGP championship returns in two weeks time at the Aragon world circuit in Spain. You’ll be able to follow it here, on Read Motorsport.