MotoReview

Dani Pedrosa

"Le Mans is very different from Shanghai. This circuit has a lot of hard acceleration, a lot of hard braking sections and a very fast, long corner at the end of the straight. Having good drive at the exit of the corners is fundamental to making a fast lap. And the gearbox has to be very well set up. It has been a tough start to the season but I'm happy with the results so far." 

Nicky Hayden

Nicky continues to lead the championship, now by a 13 point margin. The American rider's had 8 consecutive podium finishes and will not want to play second fiddle to his rookie team-mate for the second weekend in a row.

"Since they repaved Le Mans the track's got a lot better. I can't say there's one part that's my favourite and there's a lot of stop and go stuff - nevertheless, I quite like the track. In the past I've gone well here but I've had some bad luck and haven't had great results so I'm looking forward to going there and putting that right."

Valentino Rossi

Following his second retirement in four races it's fair to say that the reigning champion is well and truly on the back foot. Last weekend signalled the start of the main part of the season in which seven races take place in nine weeks - the Italian rider needs his M1 sorted and championship back on track, ASAP.

"Sunday was the second time in the first four races that we've scored virtually zero points and on both occasions it hasn't been our fault. Luck has definitely not been on our side but the most important thing now is to sort our problems out as soon as possible because we have a run of important races coming up - starting at Le Mans. The next four or five rounds in Europe are the 'main course' of the season and it is a critical time for us.

"We have got some new things to try at Le Mans so hopefully they can help us find a good base set-up but still have enough room for improvement to keep the pace with our rivals over the weekend. We are up against good riders on good machinery and we have to be at our maximum level to be able to beat them. I am already a few points behind the leader but the championship is very long, I have a lot of confidence in my team and we have time to put things right.

"Le Mans is not one of my favourite tracks but last year it was very good for us. I took pole position, the fastest lap of the race on the final lap and the victory and Colin was also on the podium, so it was a perfect weekend for us. We hope this weekend can be the same."

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