Pedrosa fightback brings lap record, podium.

Dani Pedrosa backed up his US GP victory with third place, and a new lap record, in Sunday's German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

The 23-year-old Spaniard blasted from eighth on the grid to second at the first corner, but was spooked by a big slide and dropped to fourth on lap 9 of 30, behind Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

Sensing an improvement in feedback, Pedrosa later went back on the attack, setting a new lap record on lap 25 and retaking a struggling Stoner for third soon after.

But Rossi and Lorenzo were just out of reach and the Repsol Honda rider crossed the line in third position, 2.899sec from victory, to record his fifth podium of the 2009 season.

"I'm pleased to be on the podium, and finishing this close to the leaders proves that our win at the last race wasn't by chance," said Dani. "I made a very good start and in the first few laps I was comfortable behind Valentino. On about lap six or seven though I had a big moment in the last corner and almost crashed, so after that I slowed down a little and dropped back to fourth.

"With a slightly slower pace I felt the feedback coming back and towards the end of the race I was able to push hard again. I got past Casey and tried to catch the leaders but by this time I was a bit too far behind.

"Third place is a good result, but we were ready to fight for the win at this circuit so it looks like we still have a little bit of work to do. The team is in good shape though and we're making progress all the time, so I'm confident we can continue to challenge for better results and preferably for wins. Donington is next and I'm looking forward to it. Let's hope we can have an even better race there."

Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso pulled out with front tyre problems.