Yesterday at Estoril, Casey Stoner dominated from start to finish, achieving his second victory of the season and marking a significant milestone by winning at every MotoGP venue on the current calendar.
In the opening lap, the Australian established a 1.6-second lead, maintaining it after taking first place before the second corner on the 13-turn circuit. Jorge Lorenzo only briefly appeared to be a threat in the middle of the race, ultimately finishing in second place. Dani Pedrosa remained in third for the duration of the race following a significant slip in the first turn.
Although the Number-1 Repsol rider faced challenges with chatter, the substantial lead he created early on provided enough of a buffer to fend off Lorenzo during the race’s midpoint.
“I didn’t feel confident to push during those middle laps; we weren’t feeling good. I experimented with different maps on the bike to improve exit performance and reduce chatter,” Stoner explained. “By altering my riding style a bit, I began feeling better with the bike in the last ten laps. The chatter decreased, allowing us to push more in the final laps and create just enough of a gap to finish comfortably.”
Lorenzo executed a nearly flawless race but only stayed within striking distance for a limited number of laps. Undoubtedly faster than Stoner in the last sector of the circuit, Lorenzo continually fell back on the front straight, which diminished his chances in Turn 13. A slight wheelie exiting the last corner ultimately secured his second-place finish for the second consecutive weekend.
“I’m very satisfied with second place after a challenging weekend until we resolved our issues. The bike performed well except for my burnt clutch at the start, which allowed Casey to pull away significantly in the first two laps,” Lorenzo noted, reflecting on clutch slippage during the straightaways. “Afterwards, the bike functioned well, but Casey had the edge in energy, whereas I lacked the stamina to attempt an overtaking maneuver.”
Pedrosa seemed to settle into a distant third place after his first-corner slip, as the leading trio distanced themselves from the rest of the field. He stayed relatively close yet never had the opportunity to challenge Lorenzo for second.
“My first lap was difficult due to tire warm-up issues. I experienced a big slip right from the first corner and think I lost about a second on that initial lap,” said the Honda racer. “After that, I was trailing Jorge by 0.5 to 0.6 seconds, which was difficult to manage since I lost a lot in corner speed, trying to make up for it during braking while feeling uncomfortable with my riding.”
In a close contest, Andrea Dovizioso managed to finish ahead of his Monster Energy Yamaha Tech 3 teammate Cal Crutchlow, achieving his best result of the year in fourth place. The two riders were near each other for most of the race until Crutchlow went wide off the track in Turn 6, allowing Dovizioso some space to secure his position while Crutchlow took fifth.
Alvaro Bautista secured sixth place with his San Carlo Honda, well ahead of Valentino Rossi’s Factory Ducati. Ben Spies, starting from the second row, experienced a disappointing drop to finish eighth. Rounding out the top ten were Stefan Bradl and Hector Barbera, respectively.
Once again, Aleix Espargaro emerged as the top-finishing CRT entry, taking twelfth place. For the first time, a CRT bike was lapped, occurring without issue as Danilo Petrucci fell a lap behind.
With this victory, Stoner heads away from Estoril leading the points standings with 66 points, just ahead of Lorenzo’s 65. Pedrosa sits in third, trailing by 14 points, while Cal Crutchlow maintains a slim two-point lead over Dovizioso with 37 championship points.
2012 MotoGP Estoril Results
1. Casey Stoner (Honda)
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +1.421
3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +3.621
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha) +13.846
5. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) +16.690
6. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) +21.884
7. Valentino Rossi (Ducati) +26.797
8. Ben Spies (Yamaha) +33.262
9. Stefan Bradl (Honda) +35.867
10. Hector Barbera (Ducati) +53.363
11. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) +1’02.630
12. Aleix Espargaro (ART) +1’20.736
13. Randy de Puniet (ART) +1’23.483
14. Michele Pirro (FTR) +1’37.905
15. Danilo Petrucci (Loda) +1 Lap
DNF
Karel Abraham
James Ellison
Yonny Hernandez
Mattia Pasini
Ivan Silva
Not Starting
Collin Edwards
