The MotoGP World Championship continues its swing through the European heart of the schedule with a stop at the famed Le Mans Circuit, where the Honda riders arrive brimming with confidence after a prolific start to the season.

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa put on a clinical display of race craft at the previous Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril to win his first race of the season and move close to championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). Pedrosa has long been known for his lightning starts, from which he would build an insurmountable advantage. But in Estoril, riding with the uncertainty of a surgically repaired left shoulder, Pedrosa stalked Lorenzo for 24 of 28 laps before making a precise pass to start the 25th lap. The Spaniard quickly pulled away, dispelling the myth that he could only win from the front while at the same time proving to himself and others that his shoulder wouldn't be an impediment in his quest for the MotoGP World Championship.

With the added rest since the race in Portugal, Pedrosa arrives in France ready to win again. Pedrosa was on pole two of the past three years in France, and has won the 250cc and 125cc races, but victory at Le Mans in the MotoGP class has so far eluded him. Given this season's start-third, second, first-Pedrosa could join fellow Honda riders Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan, Alex Criville, Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, and Marco Melandri as premier class winners at the circuit 200Km southwest of Paris.

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) sits just behind Pedrosa in the championship with a season that's been nearly as impressive. Stoner began with a win in Qatar from pole and was challenging for the win from pole in Jerez when he was knocked down and couldn't restart. A back problem in Estoril prevented him from putting his talent to full use. Still, he finished on the podium in third.

Andrea Dovizioso, the third member of the Repsol Honda team, made it three riders in the top four in Estoril, the best Honda finish since a sweep of the podium at the 2006 United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. The finish of the Estoril race was dramatic for Dovi, who used the power of the Honda RC212V to speed past Valentino Rossi (Ducati) at the finish line. By finishing fourth, the Italian moved within a point of Rossi for fourth in the championship behind Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner.

Dovi finished on the podium at Le Mans last year and hopes that with the help of the improvements made in a test following Estoril he can repeat the finish.


The French Grand Prix marks the 40th anniversary of Repsol's involvement in motorcycle racing. The Spanish oil giant first took to the track on the fairing of Angel Nieto's motorcycle at the Salzburgring on May 9, 1971. The company has 25 championships, including nine in the premier class since joining Honda as title sponsor in 1995.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) has been brilliant in his second MotoGP season, but also inconsistent. The 1.83m tall Italian with the bushy hair had a decidedly mixed weekend in Estoril. For the first time in his young MotoGP career, he topped an official practice session, then repeated by sweeping both sessions on Friday. But his exuberance was tempered by a Friday crash. On Saturday he was within minutes of taking his first pole position when he again fell off.

His race ended prematurely when he crashed on a cold tyre in the first left-hand corner after Estoril's opening three rights. "Super Sic" didn't dwell on it. In a test the day after the race he lapped faster than the circuit record lap and 1.4s quicker than the fastest lap from Sunday's race.

Despite having won there in 2009 and finishing second in 2008, Simoncelli isn't a fan of the Le Mans circuit.

Neither is team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini). The top Japanese rider is enjoying a productive sophomore season with three top ten finishes, which he hopes to continue in France. In his second MotoGP season, and first with the Gresini Honda team, the former 250cc World Champion continues to build both his technical and racing experience. With an eye towards Le Mans, Aoyama turned in 73 laps during the Estoril test to finish just behind Pedrosa.

Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) returns to one of the tracks where he recorded one of his seven Moto2 victories. When Elias won the Moto2 race at Le Mans he over the lead in the championship, which he never relinquished en route to the inaugural Moto2 World Championship.

Elias has had success in the smaller classes in Le Mans-he won the 250cc race in 2003 and finished on the podium in the 125cc class, but hasn't been as successful in the premier class, which he last competed in 2009.

The legend of Le Mans was built on the 24-hour races, held on the 13Km circuit. The track first hosted a motorcycle grand prix in 1969 on the shorter Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix Circuit, which was built in 1965 around the much larger track.

The French GP at Le Mans was on and off the calendar for a number of years-it has been held on eight different circuits-and removed following the 1995 race in which Alberto Puig, now Dani Pedrosa's Repsol Honda team manager, suffered serious injuries. After numerous safety improvements were made, the race returned as a permanent fixture in 2000.

The stop-and-go nature of the track doesn't make it a favourite of the riders, who prefer fast, flowing tracks like Mugello and Phillip Island. The track has been altered a number of times to improve safety over the past decade-plus, but the essential character hasn't changed.

The 4.180Km circuit has 13 corners, nine rights and four lefts, with the longest straightaway only 674m. The result is a track thick with hard braking and subsequent acceleration, with electronics coming into play to modulate rear tyre spin on corner exit. The circuit may well be a challenge for riders of the Honda RC212V, which doesn't list among its assets braking stability, though the situation has markedly improved this season, and further so during the post-Estoril test. On the plus side, among the many off-season improvements to the RC212V is much smoother corner exiting, with less movement of the rear tyre that allows riders to move quickly through the gears.



Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says:

"It's been the first week in a long time in which I have felt calm and confident, especially after the race we had in Portugal. It was a great release for me to feel good on the bike after the operation and makes me see things differently. After the race and Monday's test I was very tired and sore. I spent three days resting to relax the muscles and then I continued with the physiotherapy and gently working with my trainer. Now, I look forward to getting back on the bike. Le Mans will be, as always, a difficult and busy weekend. I've done well overall in this circuit, I have quite a lot of confidence there, but I am yet to win in MotoGP and I would like to. It's similar to Estoril, a stop-and-go track where Yamaha has been also very strong in the past. We need to take a big profit of the practice sessions to prepare a bike with good stability, traction and acceleration and be prepared for any track condition because of the weather. In this track you need to be also very focused because the race is long and it's very important to be consistent and not make any mistakes."

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner says:

"In Estoril I was very happy to retain third and keep some valuable points for the championship. We've always had some reasonable results in Le Mans, but never really quite good enough. The practice sessions will be important to get the set-up of the bike just right, and I feel the Honda should work well there so I'm looking forward to it."

Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso says:

"After the improvements made in the post GP test in Estoril, we arrive in Le Mans more competitive. We will use the new clutch we tested in Portugal and take advantage of the set-up solutions tested there. Le Mans is a slow track and has a lot of changes of direction. Unfortunately the circuit has lost part of its fascination after changes made in the past years. I have always scored good results on this track; last year we had a very good race finishing on the podium. We head to Le Mans determined to repeat it. Our target is the podium and to achieve it we need to work well from the first day."

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli says:

"The Estoril test on the day after the race was a good way for me to put the race behind me and go to Le Mans with a different attitude. Now I am just looking forward to putting it behind me properly. The test was a useful and important one ahead of the fourth race of the season. I am more sure than ever that I can run with the front guys and I will be giving everything to come out with a top result. I will certainly be trying to make sure I don't make the same mistake on a cold tyre because the only good thing that came out of it in Portugal was a nice picture of my aerial barrel roll! Joking aside, I am keen to do well at Le Mans, a circuit I don't particularly like even though I won there in 250 in 2009 and finished second in 2008."

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama says:

"I am happy with the results so far and with my position in the championship. I have made good progress and I am adapting more and more to MotoGP, thanks also to the brilliant job being done by the team and the excellent relationship we are building. The test after the race at Estoril was positive and we got some good information for the future. Now we go to Le Mans feeling sure we can continue on this path. The track is not one of my favourites and I have not had good results there in the past, but I am sure we can change that this weekend."

LCR Honda MotoGP rider Toni Elias says:

"In the recent years, Le Mans has been the scene of some thrilling races, several of them influenced by rainy conditions, so I am really hoping for a dry race. This track's character is very stop-and-go, with plenty of slow turns, which means there will be some big battles on the brakes. Therefore we must concentrate on honing our machine stability during braking, as well as improving rear-end traction for the numerous hairpin exits. In the recent Portuguese testing session we obtained some small improvements on our bike stability, but this track is totally different. We come here with high motivation and we aim to take another step forward."