The Repsol Honda rider is prepared to make his racing return at Estoril after a further two weeks of recovery for his injured collarbone.

Dani Pedrosa is expecting a much improved experience at the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal this weekend as he returns to racing having had an extra two weeks to recover from his injured collarbone. The Repsol Honda rider recently had stitches removed following an operation he underwent on October 2nd, and is confident of a better level of comfort having undergone further physiotherapy.

“We get back on track this weekend at Estoril and, in principle, the situation should be much better than it was for me in Australia,” said the 25 year-old, who was forced to head home early from Phillip Island after the pain became too great to ride in the race. “The Estoril circuit is not as demanding as Phillip Island and this should help me to feel more comfortable on the bike. Plus I’ve had some more time to recover which should help too.”


“This kind of injury needs time to heal and with two more weeks having passed I’m really looking forward to seeing how much the shoulder has improved. I went to visit the doctor last Tuesday to have the stitches removed, and the scar is fine. I’ve been doing some more rehabilitation on the muscles and I have some more strength, but I will not be able to fully judge how much difference there is until I get on the bike on Friday morning. Also, I think it can be positive for me that there will be two practice sessions on Friday again, as we had in Aragón.”

Estoril is a track on which Pedrosa has enjoyed podium finishes in the past three seasons, and he is looking forward to taking the true test of how well he has recovered.

“In terms of the track layout, Estoril has some hard braking areas and it’s bumpy, but the fact that it has more right hand corners than left can be good for us. So, I’m looking forward to getting there with my team and seeing how I feel,” he concluded.