The Auto Channel
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
Official Website of the New Car Buyer

MotoGP - Lorenzo Rallies To Pass Stoner Late For Victory In Exciting Season Opener


PHOTO (select to view enlarged photo)

INDIANAPOLIS, April 9, 2012: Jorge Lorenzo passed reigning World Champion Casey Stoner with three laps remaining and held on for victory Sunday, April 8 in the Grand Prix of Qatar, the 2012 season opener in the MotoGP World Championship.

2010 World Champion Lorenzo, from Spain, rode his factory Yamaha to victory by .852 seconds over Dani Pedrosa, Stoner’s teammate at Repsol Honda. Stoner ended up third, 2.908 seconds behind Lorenzo.

Yamaha Tech 3 teammates Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden led the American contingent, finishing sixth on a factory Ducati after chasing a tough fight with Alvaro Bautista, Stefan Bradl and Hector Barbera over the closing laps. Ben Spies finished a disappointing 11th on his factory Yamaha, while Colin Edwards placed 12th on his NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter-BMW and was the first finisher among the new Claiming Rule Teams (CRT) machines.

2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Lorenzo started from the pole but surrendered the lead to Stoner on Lap 3 of the 22-lap race. Stoner stretched his lead to nearly two seconds by the halfway point of the race. But Stoner was troubled in the second half of the race by painful arm pump – severe cramping and pain in the forearms. Lorenzo chipped away at his lead every lap before making the decisive pass.

The next race is the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, April 29 at the Jerez Circuit. The Red Bull Indianapolis GP is the 11th of 18 races this season, Sunday, Aug. 19 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

***

PODIUM FINISHER QUOTES

JORGE LORENZO (Winner, Yamaha Factory Racing): “What an amazing race. I put everything I have, all my energy into the track. This victory is because I never gave up, kept pushing and trying. Casey was very strong at the beginning and opened a gap. Fortunately for us, he struggled at the end and dropped his pace where I could keep mine, so I managed to pass him. I am very grateful to Yamaha because they have made a big step this winter on the YZR-M1.”

DANI PEDROSA (Second, Repsol Honda Team): “I'm very happy with this result because we have been able to turn around all the problems we had during the weekend. After a good preseason, we got here, and everything went wrong. I had flu and a fever. I crashed on Friday. Then the qualifying practice was a disaster. So it’s very good to leave here with this podium, even if I feel little bit sad because I thought I could win this race. I had it in my hands for a while.

CASEY STONER (Third, Repsol Honda Team): “It wasn’t really the way we wanted to finish the race weekend here. The bike was working well for us. I definitely had the package and the pace to lead the field, which was really positive. However, I suffered from really bad arm pump. After three or four laps, I felt it, but it gradually got worse. I tried to pull a little gap from Jorge and Dani and put in the minimal effort possible to retain the gap and try and win, but as the race continued it got worse and worse and eventually the muscles had nothing more to give. I couldn't hold onto the handle bars properly and it made things really difficult.”

***

AMERICAN RIDER QUOTE

BEN SPIES (Yamaha Factory Racing, 11th): “A tough race, but sometimes that’s just the way it goes. I tested my airbag twice this weekend; good to know it works well. We’ll go back to Jerez now and hopefully have the bike issue sorted. It was good that Jorge won. We can see the Yamaha is going well. We just had a big problem with chatter, so we have to work out what it was.”

***

POINTS

Riders: Jorge Lorenzo 25, Dani Pedrosa 20, Casey Stoner 16, Cal Crutchlow 13, Andrea Dovizioso 11, Nicky Hayden 10, Alvaro Bautista 9, Stefan Bradl 8, Hector Barbera 7, Valentino Rossi 6, Ben Spies 5, Colin Edwards 4, Randy de Puniet 3, Yonny Hernandez 2, Aleix Espargaro 1.

Manufacturers: Yamaha 25, Honda 20, Ducati 10, Suter 4, ART 3, BQR-FTR 2.