Stoner dominates at Catalunya

His third win of the year and his second consecutive success moves him to within seven points of series leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who finished in second place.

Lorenzo’s team-mate Ben Spies completed the podium just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V). Pole position man Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) came home in sixth spot.

Stoner was the clear favorite after setting a lightning-fast race pace throughout the two days of practice. Even though he missed out on pole position – because he didn’t have the set-up to fully exploit the extra grip of the softer tyres – the 2007 World Champion was confident he could be more than competitive today.

Second behind Lorenzo at the end of the first lap, Stoner took the lead at the start of lap two and stayed in front for the rest of the 25-lap race. He steadily built an advantage until the midway point when he sensibly eased his pace as light rainfall affected the final section of the Catalunya track. Lorenzo – who was able to gauge his pace in the treacherous conditions according to Stoner – closed the gap from more than two seconds to 1.8 seconds, but as soon as the rain stopped Stoner re-established his advantage. At one point he was almost four seconds ahead of Lorenzo. Finally he crossed the finish line 2.4s ahead.

Dovizioso had a highly competitive, but slightly frustrating race. He was in fourth place almost from start to finish, chasing Spies throughout, but never quite getting close enough to mount an assault on the American. Dovizioso had Valentino Rossi (Ducati) briefly get ahead of him in the early stages and spent the remainder of the race sandwiched between Spies and Rossi, playing the tricky game of simultaneously attacking and defending. The result moves the Italian into third place overall ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) who missed this race after breaking his right collarbone at Le Mans three weeks ago.

Yesterday Simoncelli scored the first pole position of his MotoGP career and much was expected of the lanky Italian in today’s race. But he got swamped by his rivals in the rush to the first corner and ended the first lap down in seventh. Simoncelli was able to overcome Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and get close to Rossi, but in the end he had to settle for a sixth-place finish.

After today’s Catalan GP the paddock is already packing up in preparation for the northward trip over the English Channel for the coming weekend’s British GP at Silverstone.

Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: winner
“We got a reasonably good start, but not as good as Jorge. I wanted to try to pass him early on, but had to wait until the end of the first lap. From this point I just tried to put in the consistent laps as we did in the practice sessions to see if he could stay with me. Fortunately I was able to open up an advantage without pushing too hard or feeling too much pressure. I was really happy, the bike was feeling fantastic and then it started to rain. There was enough rain there to make you think that it will affect the bike, and in the last corner there was enough rain to make the track slippery. As I was always the first to arrive to the wet area of the track, I watched what the others were doing [from the information displayed on his pit board] and if they had started to catch me then I would push and if I start to pull an advantage then I would back off a little. I’m just happy I kept the bike upright at this stage and I want to thank all my team at Repsol Honda for all the hard work this weekend. We now head to Silverstone next week where we’ll also be looking to fight for victory. I just hope Dani can make a return there also and I wish him a fast recovery.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 4th
“After the warm-up session in the wet, the conditions during the race were tricky, especially when it started to rain with 12 laps to go. I didn’t have a perfect start and this complicated the race. In the first laps with a full tank, I didn’t have good stability in the front. With the hard tyres the traction was not so good compared to Lorenzo, Spies and Rossi who were riding with soft tyres. Even if we improved compared to Le Mans in terms of lap times, I’m not happy finishing fourth, five seconds behind the winner. Today we were fast and I think that with a good start we could have at least fought for the podium. I’m sorry for my team as they worked hard during the whole weekend. Now I look forward to next weekend’s race in Silverstone, a circuit that I like and where I hope to get a good result.”

Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th
“I don’t know if I held the clutch too long at the start, but it slipped and a lot of riders passed me, costing me a lot of time. After that I was unable to get back into the rhythm I had during practice and I was struggling, even though the pace in general was slower. I had a gap of over a second to the guys in front of me and I got it back down to three tenths to Valentino, but after a few laps I was taking too many chances in certain areas where it was a little damp and decided to pull my oars in and bring the bike home. Overall the weekend has been positive because after the pole yesterday sixth place doesn’t feel great but I have to think back to how I felt arriving here in Barcelona and be satisfied. I achieved the first of my three objectives from yesterday, which was to finish, so we will try for the other two in the next race.”

Credit content: http://www.world.honda.com Photo: http://www.MotoGP.com

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Monique Norris

Blue Wing Honda Ltd

PH: 09 571 0975 or email: monique.n@bwhonda.co.nz