Pedrosa linked with Honda switch
Added on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Pedrosa linked with Honda switch
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa could make a surprise move to Ducati for 2010, with discussions reportedly taking place between the Spaniard and Ducati team boss Livio Suppo.
Pedrosa, who had previously reached a “basic” agreement to remain with Honda next season, has yet to put pen to paper on a new contract with HRC and appears to have been in contact with Ducati team management about a ride in 2010.
Pedrosa is reported by Visordown as saying: “Yes, we have had some contact, simply that. They [Ducati] are interested.
“At the moment the thing for me is that there is nothing new. There is nothing concrete. I do not know what is the positive points or the negative points about the Ducati but it is necessary for me to know this before I can decide what id the bike that will be raced next year.
“Yamaha already have the motorcycle they are going to race next year and I need to know what is going to happen with the motorcycle I race next year also.
“I have seen the Ducati with Stoner on it and it goes well, it is very fast but with the other riders it is not as fast.”
Speculation is mounting over the Ducati rider line-up for next year, with 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden struggling to perform despite Sunday’s podium in Indianapolis, along with continued speculation over the health and future of 2007 champion Casey Stoner.
Speculation has surrounded Stoner, who will miss the final round of his three-race break due to a persistent illness this week in Misano, with reports that the Australian has become disillusioned with the sport and may even retire from motorcycle racing at just 23 years of age.
Hayden on the other hand, has become the latest rider to struggle to adapt to the notoriously difficult Desmosedici and, like Marco Melandri and Toni Elias before him, the American is the latest big name to have struggled, currently standing 12th in the rider’s championship.
And team manager Livio Suppo put fuel on the fire by claiming that, despite what Honda had originally hinted at, Pedrosa is still on the market for 2010.
“We’ve seen for the umpteenth time that there are some guys in a different sport, while among the human ones he was there,” he said following Hayden’s podium in Indianapolis.
“As I’ve just said: there are four guys in a different sport. One of them hasn’t signed yet. However, a place for Nicky could always be found.”
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