Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso finished in third and fourth positions today in a gripping Grand Prix of France.

In a compelling finish, Pedrosa passed his team-mate only five corners from the chequered flag at the famous Le Mans circuit to take his third podium successive races.

From the start, Pedrosa converted his pole position into an early advantage and carefully tiptoed around the track which, having been wet after rain this morning, had already started to dry. After slipping back to fifth in the tricky conditions, the 23-year-old Spaniard decided to change to his alternative bike fitted with slick Bridgestone tyres. But his move looked to be too early and the riders who stayed out on wets were able to stretch a big advantage in the treacherous conditions.

"Again, this is a fantastic podium for me because the conditions were very difficult today and in the end we came through it with a good result”, said the Spaniard. “At the start of the race it really wasn't clear what the best thing to do was. In the first few laps in the wet my pace wasn't very fast and I was going backwards and losing positions. So I decided to stop quite early and change to the machine with dry tyres - at the same time as Rossi. On the first lap out of the pits on the slick tyres he crashed in front of me and this made me even more nervous about the conditions. I really couldn't see where it was wet and where it was dry so my lap times at this stage were not good - something like 1m 55s. I lost a lot of time at this point. But then towards the end of the race when I had sufficient temperature in my tyres I was able to get into a rhythm and go faster and faster - eventu ally closing the gap on Andrea. In the end I caught andpassed him on the last lap - really close to the finish. He was riding very well and made it hard to pass, but I was able to get the place, so I'm happy with podium today."

One of those riders was Andrea Dovizioso who rode brilliantly on his wets and spent the first part of the race developing a strong second place behind today's eventual winner, Jorge Lorenzo. After eleven laps it was time for Dovizioso to come for his ‘dry' bike and he rejoined in fourth before moving up to third - a position he held until half-way through the final lap.

But Pedrosa's late-race pace was irresistible - he set the fastest lap of the race on lap 27 of the 28 - and Dovizioso couldn't prevent his team-mate from taking the final podium place. The Italian was naturally disappointed but philosophical afterwards and goes to his home race in Mugello in two week's time lying equal fifth in the World Championship, 23 points behind Lorenzo.

"I'm disappointed because we had a good race, the podium was very near and then I lost it at the very last lap. So I'm sorry for the team because they've done a very good job throughout the weekend and a podium finish would have been a fitting ending”, he explained. “At the beginning of the race it was a really tricky situation. We had a fast pace in the wet even though we hadn't tested in these conditions. I was in second place when I came into the pits to change the bike because the track was drying quickly. It was the first time that I've done this bike-change procedure and I think it works well. Our timing was was ok - though maybe we could have come in two laps earlier. Anyway, I rejoined in third position, I was racing for the podium and I had a good rhythm, but it was not enough and Dani came alongside on the straight on the last lap. I tried to close the door, brak ing hard, but he had the inside line and that means you're in control ofthe corner. I ran a little bit wide on the exit so I couldn't try to catch him. It was disappointing for me but Dani was fast, especially in the last four laps when his pace was in the low 1m 35s, so my compliments to him."

Pedrosa's immensely impressive start to the season, despite coming into 2009 hampered by injury, sees him in fourth place in the title standing, just nine points from the top spot.

"Both riders did an excellent job in really challenging conditions so I'd like to say thank you to them. Third and fourth is a good result for the team today because the weather made things very complex. In fact, the performance from the whole Repsol Honda Team is very positive at the moment. We're going in the right direction and making progress but there are still areas we need to improve with our machine and this is something we're working at relentlessly”, commented Team Manager Kazuhiko Yamano. “Dani is now not far from the championship lead so we must ensure he and Andrea have the equipment to continue the fight. And the next race is Andrea's home race at Mugello so he'll be very motivated to get another strong result."

© CAPSIS International