Repsol rider takes superb win in the wet and continues to close the gap on the series lead. Casey Stoner joins him on the podium in third.
With a third straight win, his sixth of the season, Dani Pedrosa is unstoppable at a crucial time in the MotoGP World Championship. In a soaking wet race —stopped seven laps from the end due to the amount of water on track— the Repsol rider took victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner. It was Pedrosa’s first ever wet win in the World Championship.
As happened at the last two Grands Prix in Aragon and Japan, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa started from first and second on the grid and broke away together. At the mid-race point, Pedrosa went on the attack, passing Lorenzo on the brakes at the final corner.
Keeping up his pace, the Repsol rider was steady en route to his sixth win of the year, leaving Lorenzo behind in the space of a couple of laps. His rival almost crashed out on lap 15, losing him further time and allowing Casey Stoner to catch him up, but at that moment Race Direction red flagged the race due to the amount of surface water on track.
With two thirds of the race completed and the asphalt completely flooded, there was a wait to see if the remaining seven laps would be contested. However, a restart was deemed impossible and the riders were awarded full points. Pedrosa won from Lorenzo and Stoner, as the Spaniard beat his record of 13 podiums in a season and continues to chase the title with two races remaining. He is level on victories with Lorenzo in both 2012 and overall (44).
After claiming five wins from the last six races, Pedrosa’s run at the title will continue next weekend in Australia, where he will start the penultimate round with Lorenzo ahead of him on by 23 points. Pedrosa’s current tally is 307 —another personal milestone.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
1st – 29:29.049
“This victory is really amazing for me; it’s the first time I’ve won in the wet in my life and I’m really, really happy. I want to thank my team and the people who helped me to get here because when I started racing in these conditions I was weak and they know how difficult it’s been during all this time! Jorge set a really high pace at the beginning of the race and I remained calm to stay with him. I knew he was on a soft rear tyre and he could pull out some good laps at the start. Lap by lap I got a little more confident and I could still push and at half way in the race I overtook him and built a good gap. Some laps later the rain came down heave and it was hard to stay on the bike. I was lucky to be able to win this race, and also Jorge to finish second because he was almost on the ground. So, I’m happy for the victory, but especially happy to be able to dedicate it to Ginés, a good friend and member of the Repsol Honda Team that sadly passed away yesterday. This one is for you!”
Casey Stoner >> Audio
3th at 7.144 sec.
“At the start of the race, I would have been very happy for a podium. I was considering not taking part in the rain at all as the risks were very high —if I had come off the bike again and hit my ankle, it would have been game over for the rest of the season. As the race progressed I slowly got my confidence back and I was working on different things as I hadn’t ridden in the wet in quite some time. I slowly began to catch the front two but unfortunately ran out of time as the red flagged the race. In a lot of ways I’m disappointed, but I’m happy with the points haul we took today and another podium.”
