Repsol rider takes fourth win of 2012 and moves up to a personal best 257 points in the overall standings ,33 off Jorge Lorenzo. Jonathan Rea places seventh.
Dani Pedrosa took a comfortable victory at the Aragon Grand Prix, round fourteen of the 2012 MotoGP season. The Repsol rider returned to the top step of the podium for his fourth win of the season, cutting points off Jorge Lorenzo’s advantage in the overall standings. Repsol Honda Team colleague Jonathan Rea also had a strong race, finishing seventh in his second Grand Prix.
A crash in qualifying yesterday made things difficult for Pedrosa, who saw his Repsol Honda RC213V severely bashed up in the fall. His team worked overnight to put the machine back in top condition, as the rider looked to recover his form from Indianapolis and Brno.
The effort bore fruit and, one day after his birthday, Pedrosa puto n another riding masterclass. His main rival took the early initiative, with Pedrosa half a second back from the first corner onwards. Both split from the chasing pack until, on lap seven, the Repsol rider passed Lorenzo.
He wasted no time in extending an advantage of a few tenths of a second, which only grew after a scare for Lorenzo and Pedrosa’s storming pace. He took the chequered flag with a lead of over six seconds from the series leader.
With this result, Dani Pedrosa reduces the difference in the title standings to 33 points and breaks his personal best for points in a season, claiming 257. Teammate Jonathan Rea, standing in once again for Casey Stoner, improved upon his eighth place finish from Misano with seventh today. Despite contact on the early laps with Valentino Rossi, he was able to take another impressive result.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
1st – 42:10.444
“It’s been a tough weekend in general, with discussions about the last race with race direction and the crash in qualifying yesterday which created a lot of hard work for the mechanics. In the race I remained calm and was able to focus, Jorge began very fast in the early laps but I was able to stay with him and then after a few laps I saw I could increase the pace and I passed him and tried to find my own rhythm. I was concentrating so hard that I almost forgot that it was a race, then I realised there were only 4 laps to go! I had a few issues with the clutch into the corners, switching down, as I did yesterday, but overall the bike was working well so thanks to all my team for their hard work last night and to my fans and family for their support, this victory is for them all!”.
Jonathan Rea >> Audio
7th at 32.290 sec.
“I’m happy I achieved my goal of reducing the gap to the guys at the front, in the end we managed it by 10 seconds but it was another difficult race as I found myself on my own again. At the beginning I let Alvaro have too big a gap and when I tried to make a push, it wasn’t enough and we were only taking tenths out of him but I’m quite satisfied and I’ve learned a lot. In this race it was quite confusing for me as I was playing with the traction control buttons, the torque settings and the engine braking just to try and figure out what was happening, then there came a point where I told myself just to ride this thing and see what happens. It’s been amazing to get this chance and I’m not totally sure what’s happening for Motegi but my best wishes go to Casey and I hope he comes back and shows the World the rider he is and ends his final season on a high. I want to thank all of HRC and the Repsol Honda Team for this opportunity and for treating me like one of their own, not like a replacement rider, it’s been an amazing experience. This is my tenth year in the Honda family and hopefully I can come back here someday”.
