Pedrosa relieved to reach the finish

The Spaniard again struggled to maintain his pace across the race distance as he continued to recover from the broken collarbone he sustained at Motegi last month.

After chasing leader Casey Stoner in the opening laps today, Pedrosa gradually drifted back to finish in a lonely seventh position, but the Spaniard said he was very proud just to make it to the flag.

"This was the one of the hardest races of my life and also one of the ones I can feel most proud of," said Pedrosa.

"Honestly I was not sure at all before the start that I could do 30 laps today, but I managed to do it and I'm very happy now, and also exhausted."

He admitted that being able to keep pace with Stoner at first was a pleasant surprise.

"I made a good start and to stay with Stoner in the early laps was amazing for me," Pedrosa said.

"I fought as hard as possible to maintain the pace for as long as I could and it was during this period that I set the fastest lap of the race.

"But of course my strength was ebbing away little by little and I was caught by the group behind me. From then on I just concentrated on staying on the bike and finishing the race - I was counting down the laps."

The result gave Pedrosa second in the world championship between the two Yamaha riders - a result he was delighted with given his injury issues.

"To finish second in the championship was not our goal at the beginning of the season of course, but only we know how hard it has been to keep second place after the crash in Japan," said Pedrosa.