Suppo: Pedrosa unlucky not to be a contender

Dani Pedrosa's MotoGP championship challenge was derailed by two accidents in 2013.

The first was a highside on Saturday morning in Germany, which saw the 28-year-break his collarbone and miss the race, the second an incident with team-mate and eventual champion Marc Marquez at Aragon.

Sachsenring had always been a successful circuit for Pedrosa, winning for the last two years. But the non-score and resulting fifth place while injured at Laguna Seca the following week cost him dearly in the championship chase - Marquez winning both races.

The clash between the Repsol Honda riders in September's Aragon Grand Prix, when Marquez' clutch lever tagged a rear wheel sensor cable on Pedrosa's RCV, then left Pedrosa with another non-score.

Championships can hinge on luck and for Dani Pedrosa this year again saw good luck in short supply.

Livio Suppo, Repsol Honda's Team Principal, spoke to the media about Pedrosa's season during testing at Valencia on Wednesday. The Italian felt his rider was unlucky not to be in the final round title fight with Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo.

"Unfortunately Dani has been very unlucky because with almost no crashes [this year] he got injured in the Sachsenring," said Suppo. "It was a stupid crash, he wasn't pushing too much it was just cold tyres, and then Aragon was the worst luck. The [wheel sensor] cable has been in this position for many years and nothing ever happened.

"At these two races, that I think he would have been able to win or finish second at, it's easy to see that at the end of the season when he was just 34 points behind Marc that he would have been fighting for the championship in Valencia and it would have been like Moto3 with three riders fighting for the championship in Valencia.

"Still Dani's potential remains high and we're confident that next year he'll be in the same position [to fight for the title]."

2013 marked the sixth time that Pedrosa has finished in the top three of the MotoGP standings.