MotoGP’s 2016 season begins this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix, one of the most spectacular events on the circuit and the only one of the 18 Grand Prix events to be held at night. Twenty-one riders belonging to 11 teams will take part, including Honda Repsol racer Dani Pedrosa, who has been on the MotoGP circuit since 2006 and is a brand ambassador for Cvstos watches. For the first time this year, the brand will be present at Baselworld.
This year the MotoGP world championship has undergone some significant changes. It has taken on a new official tyre supplier, Michelin, as well as a new set of rules for 2016, which include a unified software system, a fixed fuel quota (22 litres) and the same tyres for every team. All riders in the same stable must use the same engine version, and will have a total of seven engines. The penalty points system has also been revised; the “Rossi rule”, as it is being called, will avoid the judges having to deal with the potentially difficult situation of putting a rider to the back of the grid, as happened during the last event of the 2015 season.
A month ago we caught up with Dani Pedrosa, then in the thick of official testing on Phillip Island, Australia, and asked him a few questions.
Seven questions for Dani Pedrosa
The MotoGP season starts in just under a month. How does your new Honda Repsol feel and what are your aims for the season?
Dani Pedrosa: At this current time, the situation with the bike is a little hard because we have changed a lot of things for the new rules in the championship and getting things correctly matching together is what we are trying to do.
How do you prepare physically and mentally for a new season of competition?
Mental and physical preparation go together, trying to do exercises and training to reach the highest level.
You are one of the few motorbike riders who have a partnership with a luxury watch brand. Do you get a lot of curiosity about your watch from other riders?
Sure, there are some riders who are passionate about watches, I often get questions about how light it is, how it was made, and about the look.
Before meeting Cvstos, did you have any particular interest in watches?
Yes. I wasn't an expert, but I've been always curious about them. Now I get to know many more things about the watch world.
To what extent were you involved in the design of the Challenge 26 Dani Pedrosa watch?
The idea of the watch was developed together with Antonio, who has a big passion for the details and materials, and my bike has many of these!
You are a partner of a Swiss brand and you live in Switzerland… Do you have a special relationship with Switzerland?
Sure. I have lived in the country for quite a long time now, and I have got to know the culture here and the people better. Many things suit my needs and lifestyle, as I look for privacy and peace after the stress of race weekend.
A race can be won or lost by a fraction of a second after over an hour of racing. Time can be terribly frustrating. Do you manage to make it your friend?
The relationship with the time is so special. So difficult to understand and so changeable at times. We are used to thinking we can control everything, but in reality we need to be part of time, and control what we do within it.
Challenge Dani Pedrosa
Dani Pedrosa has been a Cvstos ambassador since 2013. June of that year saw the launch of the Cvstos Challenge Dani Pedrosa Limited Edition (just 26, a nod to the number of his Honda Repsol bike). Produced in orange aluminium and grey titanium, it has plenty of motorbike-themed details: the colour orange, the dial and sub-dials that look like brake discs, vents on the left side of the case mirroring the air vents on a motorcycle engine, pushers shaped like a brake and a clutch, and a power reserve that looks like a fuel gauge. The number 26 features on the side of the case, and the date 26, when it appears, is in red. The tungsten 88 and titanium rotor developed by Cvstos is like a spoked wheel. The watch is driven by an automatic chronograph movement beating at 28,800 vph, with a 42-hour power reserve.
In January 2016 Dani Pedrosa was in Geneva to present the new Dani Pedrosa Challenge Carbon, with its black carbon nano-fibre and orange glass fibre case. In addition to the distinctive features we have mentioned, this timepiece, in a limited edition of 100 pieces, has the same Samurai logo visible on Dani’s helmet on its skeletonised 3D dial.
