Jorge Lorenzo in action at Silverstone
Silverstone, UK -June 17th 2012 – In a day that once again saw three fantastic races across the MotoGP™ classes at the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone, it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo who recorded a hard-fought victory in the premier-class ahead of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.
The predicted rain stayed away for the MotoGP grid as Yamaha’s Ben Spies took the holeshot ahead of Repsol Honda Team’s Stoner and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s pole-sitter Álvaro Bautista. Spies made a tremendous start leading the early stages from Stoner, Bautista and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden. Lorenzo lost a place in the first bends, and was soon leading a separated group for fifth place.
Silverstone podium - Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa
With 17 laps remaining Lorenzo started to find his rhythm as he looked to close the gap to the front four, followed by Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Soon after, Stoner made a move past Spies, as the Texan made a mistake, going too hot into a turn.
Casey Stoner – “It wasn’t a great race for us today, we saw the pace the Yamaha’s had in the early laps and it was really worrying to me. As early as lap three the bike wasn’t feeling good, especially on the left side, the tyre destroyed itself almost immediately. My plan was to try and get to the front and hold them up but Ben [Spies] was proving difficult to pass, then he made a small mistake and I was able to slip through and I tried to hold it from there. We knew we didn’t have a better pace than the other riders and it wouldn’t be long until they were on us so I did what I could to stay in front. We were loosing so much grip on the edge of the tyre that we had no mid-turn corner speed and we were having to make up for this with the entry and a clean exit, which made things difficult. Today we needed a little more grip and we would have been able to fight for the win but looking at the rear tyres at the end of the race, there was definitely something wrong with ours”.
More overtaking was to follow, as Lorenzo took advantage of a gap left by Hayden to hunt down Bautista. With Stoner having pulled out a small gap at the front, Lorenzo did not want his rival to get away and forced his way past Bautista, relegating the San Carlo rider into fourth. The tussle was not to stop, as Lorenzo stormed past his teammate into second, with Spies being overtaken by Bautista as well a corner later.
Repsol's Casey Stoner
With 11 laps left Lorenzo was closing in on the rear wheel of Stoner, starting a thrilling battle for top spot. On the same lap Dovizioso crashed out of his positions, while his teammate Cal Crutchlow fought past LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl into seventh. Heading into lap nine, Lorenzo took Stoner on the final turn, yet the Australian fought straight back in the next turn, as the pair kept the crowd on their toes with some thrilling moves.
Cal Crutchlow 6th -“That’s a weekend I won’t forget in a hurry. Yesterday was a disaster with the crash and I thought I was going to miss my home race again. But the Clinica Mobile team and medical staff at Silverstone did an amazing job and I am grateful that I could finally start my home Grand Prix. I never imagined I could get sixth position because normally if you start from the third row it is very difficult to get into that position. So starting from the back of the grid, I’d have been happy to finish the last prototype bike. It was a very tough race but I just had to try and ignore the pain and let the adrenaline and support of the British crowd get me through. When I got by Bradl I could see Nicky was a long way clear, but I just kept on pushing to see what happened. I’m really happy with my lap times because I was as quick as the guys on the podium, even with a broken ankle. So a little part of me can’t help but think without the crash yesterday that I could have been on the podium in the British Grand Prix. I’m not going to complain with sixth and I want to say thanks to my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew, who basically chose the set-up of the bike for me and it worked great. Also a big thanks to all the British fans who were unbelievable today. When I was lying in the gravel yesterday all I could think was they weren’t going to see me ride in my home race again. Their support helped me a lot and I hope they went home proud of the job I did for them.”
A lap further on, the duo of Pedrosa and Bautista started to slowly close the gap on Stoner, who looked to be slowing. With six laps left it turned into a three-way battle for second place, as Lorenzo was opening a gap at the front. The Spaniard suffered a slight scare with four laps left as he was almost thrown from his bike, but he managed to save it and retain the lead, albeit with a reduced gap to the pursuing Stoner. In the latter stages there were thrilling battles further back as Crutchlow battled past Hayden into sixth, and Power Electronics Aspar pair Aleix Espargaró and Randy de Puniet were fairing to fairing until the finish line.
Dani Pedrosa
In the end it was Lorenzo who held his nerve to cross the finish line first to take the top step of the podium and extend his championship lead, ahead of Stoner and Pedrosa who complete the rostrum. Stoner stated after the race he felt there was an issue with his rear tyre. Fourth went to Álvaro Bautista, ahead of Ben Spies, and Cal Crutchlow, who put in a brave ride with his injury. The top ten were completed Hayden, Bradl, Ducati’s Rossi and Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá. Top CRT spot once again went to Espargaró ahead of his teammate in 11th, while Dovizioso remounted after his crash to finish 19th.
