With first and second in the MotoGP title race already bagged by the Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, the battle for third place between Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Ducati's Casey Stoner hots up at the last grand prix of the season in Valencia this weekend.
Rossi will soak up the atmosphere and give the race his best shot, having won the riders’ crown in Malaysia last time out, his sixth title at the sport’s top level.
“I am very happy to be going to the final race with the championship won and the pressure off – now we can just enjoy ourselves,” Rossi said. “It's a great place to finish and the atmosphere is amazing, so we will just do our best and hope for another good race.”
Behind Rossi and Lorenzo, however, things are far from settled. Pedrosa has taken four podiums in the last four races, but even this hasn’t been enough to prevent the resurgent Casey Stoner from taking back the Spaniard’s hard-fought third in the standings, with the Australian taking second in Portugal, then winning both his home GP at Phillip Island and the last race at Sepang, after a lengthy period out of action with a stomach problem.
'It would be great to finish off the year with a win' – Dani Pedrosa
“I always look forward to the grand prix here, and this year is no different,” Pedrosa said this week. “It’s a circuit I really enjoy riding at, even though it’s quite a tight layout, but what makes it really special is the way that you can feel the support from the fans all the way round the circuit.”
Stoner has an 11pt advantage over Pedrosa, meaning that the 2007 champion will need a third-place finish on the Ducati to guarantee third in the championship this time on a track he says he has “always liked”, and where he won last year. Pedrosa, buoyed by the partisan Spanish crowds at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, knows he needs another stellar ride to deny him.
“It would be great to finish off the year with a win,” Pedrosa said.
Current championship standings
Valentino Rossi (Italy), Yamaha – 286pts
Jorge Lorenzo (Spain), Yamaha – 245pts
Casey Stoner (Australia), Ducati – 220pts
Dani Pedrosa (Spain), Honda – 209pts
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