Superb win for Dani but despair for Casey |
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| Sunday, 08 July 2012 18:09 | |||
 Dani Pedrosa took his maiden victory of the 2012 season at the Grand Prix of Germany in a dramatic race which saw team mate Casey Stoner crash out just two turns from the chequered flag whilst running in second position.The Repsol Honda riders set an incredible pace from the beginning that no one else could match and they arrived at the final lap neck and neck, almost fifteen seconds ahead of Lorenzo in third position. Riding on the limit, Dani and Casey were matching times in a fantastic battle and on this occasion Dani emerged victorious, celebrating his third victory in a row (fourth in MotoGP and fifth in all classes) at Sachsenring. With this win, Dani moves up to second in the Championship standings with 146 points and Casey, who today had his first crash due to his own mistake after 25 starts with Repsol Honda, is now third with 140. DANI PEDROSA 1st World Championship Position: 2nd with 146 points "I'm really very happy with this win. We finally made it happen and it's great not only for me, but also for my team that never gave up, for my family and fans that have been pushing and supporting me all this time when we were taking second and third places, but missing out on the victory. The podiums we had this season were very important, but I really wanted to give a victory to my team and it arrived today at a circuit that I always enjoy. It's been a really hard day though. Casey had a superb race also and put a lot of pressure on me at the end, but I knew that I had the pace and that we both would need to fight for the victory until the last turn. I tried to brake hard, close all the doors and to take the win. Finally it is a great feeling and sure will give us a lot of motivation for the next races. It's also good for the Championship, but we will not relax; victory this season has not been easy for any of us, so we have to keep pushing as we do". CASEY STONER DNF World Championship Position: 3rd with 140 points "I'm pretty disappointed, I had planned to go for my 'win or bin' effort in the last corner not that one! I was happy on the bike and felt we had a few tenths a lap over Dani and confident I could pull him back in. On the final lap I made a mistake going into the first turn and I had to push a little more than I wanted through some of the sections but I got on to Dani exactly where I wanted and planned to make my overtake in the last corner, if I didn't have an opportunity earlier in the lap. I felt confident but as soon as I tried to turn in a little more, the front went. I was already off the brakes and not in the hard braking area, as soon as I eased of the brakes I guess the weight came off the front and down I went. I'm frustrated I wasn't allowed to get up and try and score some points, the bike was perfect, but the marshals pushed me away. It's our first crash in a race, down to our own mistake, for the first time in a long time so I'm disappointed for sure, but we knew we had the pace. If we can continue this momentum for the rest of the season then we shouldn't be so worried for the Championship". Race Result - Round 8 1 Dani Pedrosa 41'28.396 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 2 Jorge Lorenzo +14.996 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 3 Andrea Dovizioso +20.669 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 4 Ben Spies +20.740 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 5 Stefan Bradl +27.893 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP 6 Valentino Rossi +28.050 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team 7 Alvaro Bautista +28.246 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 8 Cal Crutchlow +28.447 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 9 Hector Barbera +29.053 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing 10 Nicky Hayden +29.226 USA DUCATI Ducati Team 11 Randy De Puniet +53.176 FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP 12 Colin Edwards +58.204 USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing 13 Aleix Espargaro +1'04.654 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP 14 Yonny Hernandez +1'13.543 COL BQR-FTR BQR 15 James Ellison +1'30.318 GBR ART Paul Bird Racing 16 Franco Battaini +1 lap ITA DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing 17 Danilo Petrucci +1 lap ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project 18 Ivan Silva +1 lap SPA BQR-FTR BQR 19 Casey Stoner DNF AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team 20 Mattia Pasini DNF ITA ART Speed Master 21 Michelle Pirro DNF ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini Championship standings 1 Jorge Lorenzo 160 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 2 Dani Pedrosa 146 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 3 Casey Stoner 140 pts AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team 4 Andrea Dovizioso 92 pts ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 5 Cal Crutchlow 85 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 6 Valentino Rossi 71 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team 7 Alvaro Bautista 67 pts SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 8 Nicky Hayden 65 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team 9 Stefan Bradl 62 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP 10 Ben Spies 61 pts USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 11 Hector Barbera 53 pts SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing 12 Randy De Puniet 24 pts FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP 13 Aleix Espargaro 23 pts ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP 14 Michelle Pirro 16 pts ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 15 Mattia Pasini 12 pts ITA ART Speed Master 16 James Ellison 10 pts GBR ART Paul Bird Racing 17 Danilo Petrucci 9 pts ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project 18 Colin Edwards 8 pts USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing 19 Yonny Hernandez 6 pts COL BQR-FTR BQR 20 Ivan Silva 5 pts SPA BQR-FTR BQR 21 Karel Abraham 4 pts CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing 22 Franco Battaini 0 pts ITA DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing 23 Chris Vermeulen 0 pts AUS SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing Circuit information First race 1961 (Modified 2003) GPs held 26 Laps 30 Race distance 110.130km / 68.430miles Track length 3.671km / 2.281miles Track width 12m Longest straight 0.780km / 0.485miles Corners 13 (10 left, 3 right) Pole position Left Sachsenring AM Sachsenring 09353 Oberlungwitz http://www.sachsenring-circuit.com Circuit records Pole position 1m21.067s (163.020Km/h) Casey Stoner (Ducati, 2008) Race lap 1m21.846s (161.469Km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2011) Race time 41m12.482s (160.352Km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2011) MotoGP Wins 4 (Valentino Rossi 2002, 2005-06-09) 2011 Winner Dani Pedrosa (Honda) Article source: Repsol Honda
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