2012 MotoGP Championship
Spoiler Alert: 2012 MotoGP Championship results from Sachsenring, Germany, listed below
For the first time in the 2012 MotoGP Championship, a rider other than Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner or Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was victorious.
The man? Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who took a hard-fought victory at round eight of 18 Sunday, the Spaniard winning the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at the Sachsenring. With his victory, Pedrosa now has six wins at Sachsenring across all classes.
Joining Pedrosa on the podium in the drama-filled race was Lorenzo and Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso, respectively.
Getting his typical fast start, Pedrosa got out front first on the 2.281-mile circuit containing 13 corners. Following Pedrosa was Stoner, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies and Lorenzo. But soon the reigning MotoGP Champion was in the lead, and him and Pedrosa began a race-long battle for first.
Behind, many two-way battles were forming, including Spies and Lorenzo for third, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha duo of Cal Crutchlow and Dovizioso for fourth, and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl for sixth.
With 27 laps to go, San Carlo Honda Gresini CRT’s Michele Pirro DNF’d with a mechanical issue, and a lap later Spies ran wide, giving third to Lorenzo. With 25 to go, Speed Master’s Mattia Pasini crashed out.
As the Monster Tech 3 duo began catching Spies, two other riders joined the Hayden and Bradl battle – Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi and Pramac Racing Ducati’s Hector Barbera.
With 23 laps remaining, Dovi and Crutchlow would both make a pass on Spies, who seemed to be slowing. But Spies caught back up to the group, and the three began battling for the fourth.
Up front, Pedrosa and Stoner were alone battling for the lead, with Lorenzo in a lonely third. With 12 laps remaining, Pedrosa passed Stoner on Turn 1. But the Australian wouldn’t back down, and had some scary moments while staying on Pedrosa’s tail.
With seven to go, Cruchlow attempted to out brake his teammate for fourth, but ran into the gravel trap heading into turn one. Although the Brit kept the Yamaha YZR-M1 upright, he was forced to rejoin the grid in the back, leaving Dovi and Spies to battle it out for fourth.
The big drama came on the final lap, when Stoner and Pedrosa were battling intensely. On the final turns, while attempting to chase down Pedrosa, Stoner crashed out, bring about his first DNF of the season.
This gave the win to Pedrosa, with Lorenzo taking an easy second, 14.996 seconds behind. Dovi held off Spies for the final podium position.
Bradl would finish in fifth, with sixth going to Rossi, which was his best dry-race finish aboard the Ducati GP12. Completing the top 10 were San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, who was forced to start from dead last due to taking out Lorenzo at Assen, Crutchlow, Barbera and Hayden, respectively. The top CRT finisher was once again Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet, who finished in 11th.
With his second-place finish, Lorenzo now leads the MotoGP Championship with 160 points, 14 ahead of Pedrosa. Stoner is in third with 140 points. Dovi is in fourth with 92 points, followed by Crutchlow in fifth with 85 points.
The 2012 MotoGP Championship finishes up a three-week run with at Mugello next weekend for round nine of 18.
2012 Sachsenring MotoGP Results:
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 25 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 159.3 | 41’28.396 |
2. | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 158.4 | +14.996 |
3. | 16 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 158.0 | +20.669 |
4. | 13 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 158.0 | +20.740 |
5. | 11 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 157.6 | +27.893 |
6. | 10 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 157.6 | +28.050 |
7. | 9 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 157.5 | +28.246 |
8. | 8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 157.5 | +28.447 |
9. | 7 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 157.5 | +29.053 |
10. | 6 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 157.5 | +29.226 |
11. | 5 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 156.0 | +53.176 |
12. | 4 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 155.7 | +58.204 |
13. | 3 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 155.3 | +1’04.654 |
14. | 2 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 154.8 | +1’13.543 |
15. | 1 | 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 153.7 | +1’30.318 |
16. | 2 | Franco BATTAINI | ITA | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 153.6 | 1 Lap | |
17. | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda | 153.1 | 1 Lap | |
18. | 22 | Ivan SILVA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 152.2 | 1 Lap | |
Not Classified | ||||||||
1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 159.3 | 1 Lap | ||
54 | Mattia PASINI | ITA | Speed Master | ART | 153.3 | 26 Laps | ||
51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR | 142.1 | 27 Laps |
2012 MotoGP Championship Points (after eight of 18 rounds):
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 160 |
2. | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 146 |
3. | Casey STONER | Honda | AUS | 140 |
4. | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Yamaha | ITA | 92 |
5. | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | GBR | 85 |
6. | Valentino ROSSI | Ducati | ITA | 71 |
7. | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | SPA | 67 |
8. | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | USA | 65 |
9. | Stefan BRADL | Honda | GER | 62 |
10. | Ben SPIES | Yamaha | USA | 61 |
11. | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | SPA | 53 |
12. | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | FRA | 24 |
13. | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | SPA | 23 |
14. | Michele PIRRO | FTR | ITA | 16 |
15. | Mattia PASINI | ART | ITA | 12 |
16. | James ELLISON | ART | GBR | 10 |
17. | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda | ITA | 9 |
18. | Colin EDWARDS | Suter | USA | 8 |
19. | Yonny HERNANDEZ | BQR | COL | 6 |
20. | Ivan SILVA | BQR | SPA | 5 |
21. | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | CZE | 4 |