The Repsol Honda Team ready for the MotoGP Grand Prix at Laguna Seca

The United States Grand Prix takes place this weekend at the Laguna Seca circuit, where only the MotoGP class competes, while the rest of the categories are already on their summer break.

The American track is the shortest on the World Motorcycle Championship calendar, although everyone is looking forward to this tenth round of the championship to see the best riders in the world tackle the famous Corkscrew corner, including the three Repsol Honda Team riders.

The Repsol Honda Team arrives at this stage of the season with Casey Stoner leading the overall standings, Andrea Dovizioso in third place, and a recovered Dani Pedrosa who, with his victory at Sachsenring last Sunday, moves up to fifth.

Below you can see Dani Pedrosa’s pre-race comments ahead of Laguna Seca:

It was good to be able to stop by home, even if it was only for a couple of days, to enjoy the victory in Germany with my family and friends; they deserved it too.

The United States Grand Prix will be another challenge for me. I know I’m going to suffer more at Laguna Seca because there are many hard braking zones and very quick changes of direction. But it’s another race and I’m going to try to prepare for it well and enjoy it as I did at Sachsenring.

The track is very different from the European ones and the atmosphere there is special. With the exception of last year, when I crashed during the race, and 2008, when I finally couldn’t race because of the injury, I have always enjoyed riding at Laguna, and the victory in 2009 was very exciting.

In the second part of the championship I want to enjoy riding the bike and get the best possible results; I’d like to close this period on a high note.

Andrea Dovizioso’s comments:

I’m really looking forward to racing at Laguna. I’ve always felt good at that circuit and I like the atmosphere there. We are very motivated and it’s good that we go straight from Sachsenring.

I’m satisfied with the progress we have made in the last few races in terms of consistency and race pace, and I am confident that at Laguna we can be competitive again and fight for the podium or even the victory. Our goal is to keep scoring important points for the championship and to close the gap to Lorenzo and Casey.

I really like Laguna Seca. It is a circuit that is very different from the European ones and I find it special. It is always a pleasure to race in California.

Casey Stoner’s comments:

I can’t wait to get to Laguna Seca. It’s a circuit where I have always achieved good results and gone very fast. The track is very narrow and technical, with many changes in elevation and unusual corners with a lot of banking, and that demands that you be very precise and not too aggressive.

We want to improve on the results of the last three races; three podiums is good but I am here to win, so we will try to do it again on Sunday at Laguna. It has been many races in a row and now we have the last one, but I love going to America and the Monterey area is very beautiful, the fans are very friendly and the atmosphere is fantastic.

Source | Repsol Media Service