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Analysis: Why Pedrosa's helplessness is Michelin's frustration

The tyre problems that have robbed Dani Pedrosa of any chance to fight in certain MotoGP races this year have been a source of great frustration to Michelin, which is trying to help the Spanish veteran.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team, Loris Baz, Avintia Racing
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Last Sunday at Motegi, Pedrosa withdrew from the race with four laps remaining, by which point he was 15th and 55 seconds behind leader Andrea Dovizioso. The Repsol Honda rider was riding seven seconds a lap slower than him, as well as teammate Marc Marquez.

When he entered the box, Pedrosa and his team noticed that the centre of the rear tyre was broken, although they didn’t know if this was due to a production fault or to a consequence of the tyre wear, caused by a massive spinning (when the tyre doesn’t have any grip and slides).

The conditions in Japan were extremely wet and with a very cool asphalt (less than 15ºC), similar to Assen and Misano. To make matters worse for Pedrosa, Michelin withdrawing the soft option front tyre for the race forced him to ride with an unsuitable set-up.

Prior to Motegi, Pedrosa also struggled in the rain at Misano, where he crossed the line 14th, more than a minute-and-a-half away from Marquez on an identical bike.

“I think this is the first time I’ve finished before the end of the race without having a bike problem," lamented Pedrosa, whose problems are compounded by his small weight of 51kg.

"At some points of my career I’ve struggled a lot, but I’ve managed to finish the race because I always try to fight with what I’ve got. But this time it was impossible, as there came a point that on the straights I only could open the gas 30 percent."

Michelin doesn’t hide its part in Pedrosa’s unique case and insists it is investing a lot of effort to solve it.

“We are aware that what is going on with Dani isn’t normal because he’s a rider that is supposed to always be in the top three or top four," Michelin MotoGP project manager Piero Taramasso told Motorsport.com.

"For us, his case means a big frustration and we are doing the impossible in order to help him.

“His problem happens with cooler temperatures because he is not able to heat the tyre properly. We know he’s a fast rider in every conditions, but when the temperatures are low and it rains, he suffers a lack of confidence.

"What we do is to increase his tyre pressure, try to convince his technicians to help him with the set-up of the bike and tell him to push as much as he can. The pace is very important: two tenths slower means that the tyre is losing 10ºC of temperature."

However, Taramasso points out that Michelin gave all the riders the chance to try out its wet weather tyres at Valencia this year, but this was not met with enthusiasm by teams.

“At the beginning of the year we organised a training session specifically to try rain tyres, at Valencia," he added. "We invited all the teams, 23 bikes, but only two of them came (Marc VDS duo Jack Miller and Tito Rabat)."

Pedrosa, who will be hoping for better weather this weekend at Phillip Island, concludes: “Obviously Michelin is trying to help me.

"They are trying to give some ideas and solutions, but in those conditions we cannot find the solution."

Translation by Irene Aneas

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