Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who is currently in third in the MotoGP Championship standings, dominated proceedings last year at Donington Park.

The diminutive Spaniard was fastest in all but one of the dry practice sessions, set pole position and comfortably won the race, having opened up a gap of seven seconds at one stage.

He also set the fastest lap of the race to record a new lap record of 1min 28.714secs, over a second inside the previous lap record and 0.450s quicker than the fastest lap of any other rider.

"Last year I had a very good time at Donington Park so I'm really looking forward to going back there and trying for a repeat performance," he said modestly.

The 21-year-old from Barcelona arrives at Donington Park in confident mood following his strong third-place finish in the Grand Prix of Catalunya two weeks ago. Pedrosa's Honda RC212V crossed the line less than half a second behind the winner, and he also enjoyed a fruitful test the following day, as he explained, "We had a positive test in Barcelona after the last race and found a few things that should help us, particularly some tyres that we tested for Michelin, so this gives us more confidence for the upcoming races."

Pedrosa admitted he is looking forward crowd that usually attends the British event, "The Donington Park track is quite good, with two quite distinct sections - the flowing first half of the lap and the stop-and-go second part. This makes engine performance quite critical to getting a good lap time. It can rain here too so I hope we get the same good weather we enjoyed last year. The crowd is unbelievable here - especially in the last few years - and it's always good to see so many people at the Riders for Health Day of Champions on Thursday. The target for the weekend will obviously be to repeat last year's win - I'd be very happy with that," he finished.

With his confidence on a high there is every chance he could put in a repeat performance matching or bettering last year.