Dani Pedrosa becomes the eighth wonder of Moto GP

By Euronews

Published on 11/09/2016 - 16:52

Hello and welcome to Speed.

Hello and welcome to Speed. When the races became to get predictable, Moto GP decided to spice thing up by changing some regulations.

As always, criticism followed, but the results are there for everyone to see. In the San Marino Grand Prix, we’ve had the eighth different winner in the last eight races, a first in motorcycle history.

Eight was the magic number as Dani Pedrosa, who started eighth on the grid, set about ruining Valentino Rossi’s homecoming party.

Rossi born locally in Urbino, he was racing in front of a partisan crowd waving yellow flats.

He gave then something to cheer about by taking the lead from Jorge Lorenzo from lap two.

But Pedrosa had other ideas. First he broke the lap record, then he set about breaking his rivals.

First overtaking team-mate Marc Marquez with 15 laps to go, then Lorenzo.

The Spaniard overtook the home favourite with seven laps remaining and crossed the line with a healthy gap over Rossi.

So eight winners in eight races, unlike Formula One, which has had three winners in 14.

Reigning world champion Lorenzo was third and Marquez was fourth.

A vintage day at the races

The San Marino Grand Prix was first raced in 1981 and although the name strongly suggests it, the race never actually took place in San Marino.

Through the years they used the tracks of Imola, Mugello and Misano, all in Italy, but with the Italian Grand Prix already well established in the calendar, they had to get creative.

July 12th 1981 was a rainy day in Imola but that didn’t stop the inaugural race of the San Marino Grand Prix on the Italian track. Marco Lucchinelli was the man to beat that season and he went down in history as the first-ever winner.

It was the fourth of five wins that season, which earned him his one and only world title. He remained the only Italian to win at San Marino until Valentino Rossi won the race in 2008.