Dani Pedrosa has pulled out of the Phillip Island MotoGP after a painful qualifying session that saw him finish in 15th position.

Pedrosa said he made his decision to withdraw from the race due to his collarbone injury causing intense pain and restricting his movement on the bike during Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.

Dani Pedrosa said:
“After the operation in Spain my target was to come back in Australia. But having ridden in the three practice sessions here it’s clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm lap-by-lap and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult – even more so with the strong winds here. Phillip Island is a very fast circuit, I have to grip the handlebars very tightly, and this makes me very tired and gives me a lot of pain. To ride around three seconds off the pace in the race tomorrow and maybe collect just a few points wouldn’t make much sense.”

“I think it has been worth it to at least try to ride here because we really didn’t know how I would be on the bike until we tried. Now, though, I don’t want to take more risks so that I can recover in time for Estoril. I discussed the situation with HRC team director Kazuhiko Yamano and we have the same opinion.”

Team director Kazuhiko Yamano stated:
“It was worth Dani coming here and trying to ride because it was the only way to find out the real situation,” said the team boss. “But we have decided that a 27-lap race in conditions that have been very difficult all weekend would be too risky.”

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