Repsol Honda Team head to Mugello

This weekend the MotoGP paddock head to Mugello for the ninth round of the 2012 World Championship. The Grand Prix of Italy also marks the half way point of the season and the third race in a row after visiting Assen and Sachsenring. The Repsol Honda riders are looking forward to arriving at traditionally, one of the warmest races on the calendar. After an intense battle in Germany, where they demonstrated a very high pace, Dani hopes to maintain momentum after taking his first win of the season and Casey is determined to put his crash behind him. The Honda RC213V has showed great potential in the last two races, where Dani and Casey have both visited the top step of the podium. They are confident to be again very competitive in Mugello, a track that combines a very long straight (1,141 Km) and fast changes in direction. They will be looking to make the most of the Honda engine's power at a track with the highest top speed on the calendar. In fact, Dani, currently second in the World Championship standings 14 points off Lorenzo, has the record top speed in Mugello with 349,3 Km/h in 2009, while Casey, third in the overall standings 6 points behind Dani, has the fastest lap ever at this track thanks to his pole position last year (1'48.034). Dani has six podium finishes and 2 victories in Mugello (2010 in MotoGP and 2005 in 250cc); and Casey has four podiums and 1 victory in MotoGP 2009.

DANI PEDROSA World Championship Position: 2nd with 146 points "I'm really looking forward to getting to Mugello and try to keep this momentum in a circuit that I also love, for the layout and the great atmosphere. It's a very demanding track physically; last year I got there very weak due to the injury and I couldn't manage a good race, but we had a nice win in 2010 and I feel good now and ready to enjoy riding there again. Mugello is a completely different track, it's important to have a very fast bike in these corners and to get our strong points out in the track, we must take profit of the power of our Honda engine. The first win in Sachsenring has been great for me and my team, we are closer in the Championship on points, but one win will not give us the title. I've kept cool without winning and we will not relax now because we have the first one. This season you have to be almost perfect in every race to get a win, so we will keep pushing hard".

CASEY STONER World Championship Position: 3rd with 140 points "I've always liked Mugello, we've enjoyed some pretty good results there. Last year didn't go to plan but we know what we did wrong so hopefully this year we can be a little more competitive. I really enjoy the fast corners there, there are a lot of areas where we get a lot of wheel spin and a lot of fast changes of direction. It's not a small dinky little track that you can't use these bikes on, it's actually somewhere where you can open the throttle up and actually get to full throttle. After a disappointing race in Sachsenring, I want to get back on the bike and take some points back in the Championship".