Superb win for Stoner and another podium for Pedrosa at Jerez

2012-04-29 08:55
Casey Stoner took his first ever MotoGP victory at the Grand Prix of Spain and Dani Pedrosa, third on his 100th race in MotoGP, joined him on the podium at the Jerez circuit, where the Repsol Honda Team has celebrated the second consecutive double podium of the season.

The current World Champion had a difficult start but quickly recovered proving to have something extra in his pocket to fight for his first victory of the season after a superb race in front of a strong Lorenzo.

Dani Pedrosa had a perfect start again, but he got passed on the second lap and dropped to the fourth position. The Spaniard was quite cautious at the beginning and lost precious time that he was unable to regain in the second half of the race, when he started lapping faster than the leaders.

Dani recovered 3 seconds in the last 13 laps and held off the pressure from Cal Crutchlow to finish third and taste the podium at Jerez for the eighth successive year.

CASEY STONER 1st World Championship Position: 2nd with 41 points

"We didn't get a great start so I tried to stay out of trouble, there were people out braking each other, touching and it was important just to keep out of the way! Then I managed to gain a lot of positions in a short space of time and reached the front. I didn't try to pull a gap, as I knew Jorge and Dani were very fast, but I just wanted to stay in front with them and pull away from the others. Then I saw that Jorge and I had slightly better pace and we could make a gap. I was focusing on where I wanted to go as there were a lot of wet patches and it was easy to make a mistake. We managed the race for the conditions of the circuit and as they improved I pushed a little more, the bike on a whole felt much better than in qualifying. I did get some arm pump again but thankfully not to the extent I had it in Qatar. Considering the weekend in general and how fast Dani and Jorge are at this track, to win here is something very special for me".
DANI PEDROSA 3rd World Championship Position: 3rd with 36 points

"It's been a strange race for me. On the grid I thought it might not be a completely dry race so I was very cautions at the beginning also after we saw so many crashes in the first laps of Moto3 and Moto2. So I started well but I was passed and then I lost too much time with Dovizioso and Hayden. When I managed to overtake them and take the third position, Casey and Jorge were already too far in front, 4 seconds ahead. So I put my head down and started increasing my pace but at the same time it was difficult to keep the concentration because Crutchlow was on a hard front tyre and he was pushing me a lot, braking harder in the last laps. In general, I feel happy with my performance on a really tricky weekend. A second and a third position finish is not the best, but it's a good start to the season".

Race Result - Round 2
1 Casey Stoner 45'33.897 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo +0.947 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
3 Dani Pedrosa +2.063 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Cal Crutchlow +2.465 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Andrea Dovizioso +18.100 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Alvaro Bautista +21.395 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
7 Stefan Bradl +28.637 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
8 Nicky Hayden +28.869 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Valentino Rossi +34.852 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Hector Barbera +35.103 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
11 Ben Spies +38.041 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
12 Aleix Espargaro +1'12.728 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
13 Danilo Petrucci +1'18.669 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
14 Mattia Pasini +1'29.142 ITA ART Speed Master
15 Ivan Silva +1'32.478 SPA BQR-FTR BQR
16 Colin Edwards +1'40.577 USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
17 Karel Abraham +1 lap CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
18 Randy De Puniet DNF FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
19 James Ellison DNF GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
20 Michelle Pirro DNF ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
21 Yonny Hernandez DNF COL BQR-FTR BQR

Championship standings
1 Jorge Lorenzo 45 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
2 Casey Stoner 41 pts AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Dani Pedrosa 36 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Cal Crutchlow 26 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Andrea Dovizioso 22 pts ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Alvaro Bautista 19 pts SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
7 Nicky Hayden 18 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Stefan Bradl 17 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
9 Hector Barbera 13 pts SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
10 Valentino Rossi 13 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Ben Spies 10 pts USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
12 Aleix Espargaro 5 pts ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
13 Colin Edwards 4 pts USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
14 Danilo Petrucci 3 pts ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
15 Randy De Puniet 3 pts FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
16 Mattia Pasini 2 pts ITA ART Speed Master
17 Yonny Hernandez 2 pts COL BQR-FTR BQR
18 Ivan Silva 1 pts SPA BQR-FTR BQR
19 James Ellison 0 pts GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
20 Karel Abraham 0 pts CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing

Circuit information
First race 1987 (Modified 2002)
GPs held 25
Laps 27
Race distance 119.421km / 74.196miles
Track length 4.423km / 2.748miles
Track width 11m
Longest straight 0.600km / 0.373miles
Corners 13 (8 right, 5 left)
Pole position Left

Ctra. de Arcos, Km. 10 - Aptdo. Correos 1709. Jerez - España

Telephone numbers :
International dialling: +34
F: 956 15 11 05
Centralita / Operador : 956 15 11 00
Alquiler de Pista / Track booking : 956 15 11 07


Circuit records
Pole position 1m38.189s (162.164Km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2008)
Race lap 1m39.731s (159.657Km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2010)
Race time 45m17.538s (158.200Km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2010)
2011 Winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)

Source: Repsol Honda Team

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