Pedrosa, Dovizioso Staying with Honda
Cycle News Staff | August 14, 2009
Honda Racing Corporation’s (HRC) factory team will remain intact for the next following two seasons, with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso staying on through 2011.The announcement was made by HRC President Tetsuo Suzuki during a news conference on Friday morning in Brno, site of the Czech Grand Prix. Though the contracts haven’t been signed, the two riders have agreed in principal to staying.”I’m delighted to be able to announce that we have come to a basic agreement with our riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso for the next two years,” Suzuki said. “I understand that to announce this in August is much earlier compared to past years. Though there are still some details of the contracts to finalize, we are making this announcement now so that the riders and the team can remain fully concentrated on our joint goals: to win races and recapture the MotoGP World Championship. We are convinced these riders have the armory required to win this ultimate prize.”One rider not coming to Honda is Jorge Lorenzo. Suzuki confirmed having approached the Fiat Yamaha rider, but couldn’t come to an agreement. He also said there was no option of running a third bike.”We have decided to that our best line-up would be to continue racing with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso,” Suzuki said. “It is true that we contacted Lorenzo but we couldn’t reach a conclusion with him.”Honda’s decision means that Lorenzo, who is the key to a number of rider movements, is almost certain to stay with the Fiat Yamaha team.
