"From the beginning I felt great on this track, the asphalt was completely different to Sachsenring that was a nightmare for all of us," said Lorenzo. "From the very first practice here' felt very strong, excellent on the bike along with a fast constant pace. It was a pity that we had the issue in the last lap of qualifying however the important thing was the race."
Lorenzo got out front early and faced little challenge from behind, keeping smooth and consistent at the Italian circuit. Pedrosa and Dovizioso battled in early stages, with Dovi holding second-place briefly in the opening laps. The Repsol rider found a line through after just four laps and held the runner-up position through out the race. Dovi then had to battle pressure from behind as LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl mounted his best performance of the season, challenging the satellite Yamaha rider for the podium right up to the checkers.
Ducati’s Valentino Rossi continues to improve his dry condition performance too, taking fifth in the finish. The Doctor sat 10th on the grid and fought his way with the pack, making it up to seventh by mid-race and getting past his teammate Nicky Hayden and Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow within the final laps. Hayden and Crutchlow challenged each other for pretty much the entire race, the American rider putting in some of the best laps from the round and Crutchlow struggling to find an opportunity to pass before the final laps. Crutchlow ended only a fraction of the second in front of Hayden at the finish in sixth.
Stoner's difficult round started after he fell back in the pack early on and struggled to keep pace. He'd tire issues all weekend and then during the race faced a braking malfunction that caused him to run wide through Turn 12 and off track into the gravel, landing him in 10th after he got back on the right track. The Australian rider fought tough to recover position, bumping his way past San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista at some point, and had recovered to eighth through the finish.
"I designed a mistake in the race, I had a shake exiting turn 11 and when I reached turn 12 I'd no brakes, I had been squeezing them as hard when i could and thought I had enough brake capacity to stop prior to the fringe of the track however i had too much momentum coupled with to ride through the gravel trap which wasted a lot of time," Stoner explained after the race. "I'm sorry for that incident with Alvaro, I visited make the pass into turn 2 and he began to close my front off and I couldn't do anything. It's a disappointing end to a difficult weekend that I thought I would have the ability to salvage something from however not."
Behind Stoner were Pramac Racing’s Hector Barbera in ninth and Bautista in 10th and Lorenzo’s teammate Ben Spies in 11th. Spies was ninth around the grid, got pushed back early in the race and struggled throughout to maintain speed, getting went by Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet mid-race within the battle for 11th. Spies could only muster enough to re-pass de Puniet through the finish and languished well outside the running for any top-ten spot, over 20 seconds behind Bautista.
De Puniet led the reduced CRT field in 12th ahead of teammate Aleix Espargaro in 13th and Paul Bird Motorsports’ James Ellision in 14th. Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards, Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez and Came Ioda Racing’s Danilo Petrucci all didn't finish the race and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Michele Pirro received a black flag with 20 to go for an illegal maneuver.
Lorenzo extended his overall lead to 19 over Pedrosa. Stoner remains in third, but is now 37 behind Lorenzo. Dovizioso holds in fourth overall and Crutchlow is steady in fifth. Rossi continues on in sixth overall, now trailed by Bradl and Hayden in seventh and eighth following the two moved past Bautista, who fell to ninth.
Labels: Moto Gp 2012
