The Repsol Honda team has tasted glory and disappointment in equal measures at the Australian Grand Prix. The glory, seeing the 2011 World Champion, Casey Stoner, celebrating victory at his last home race of his career, with a sixth consecutive win at Phillip Island, the fifth of the 2012 season and 45th of his career, 38 of them in MotoGP.
On the flip side, there was huge disappointment for the Repsol Honda Team as title contender Dani Pedrosa crashed out on the second lap in a race he was pushing to win, despite the incredible domination his teammate Casey showed throughout the weekend.
Dani took the lead on the first lap, overtaking Lorenzo in Turn 4, and in that same turn, a lap later, he lost the front and his race and title hopes were over. Casey started to increase his amazing pace lap by lap to take the checkered flag 9.2 seconds ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, who with this result was crowned MotoGP World Champion. The Repsol Honda riders have now consolidated their final standings in the 2012 Championship, Dani in 2nd and Casey 3rd with one race to go, in Valencia in two weeks time.
Race Result – Round 17
1 Casey Stoner 41’01.324 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo +9.223 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
3 Cal Crutchlow +14.570 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
4 Andrea Dovizioso +23.303 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Alvaro Bautista +23.432 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
6 Stefan Bradl +23.467 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
7 Valentino Rossi +37.113 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Nicky Hayden +38.387 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Karel Abraham +52.613 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
10 Aleix Espargaro +1’00.299 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
11 Randy De Puniet +1’00.342 FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
12 Hector Barbera +1’21.951 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Danilo Petrucci +1’27.857 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
14 Michele Pirro 1 lap ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
15 Ivan Silva 1 lap SPA BQR-FTR BQR
16 Roberto Rolfo DNF ITA ART Speed Master
17 Colin Edwards DNF USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
18 James Ellison DNF GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
19 Dani Pedrosa DNF SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
Championship standings
1 Jorge Lorenzo 350 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 307 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Casey Stoner 238 pts AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Andrea Dovizioso 208 pts ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Alvaro Bautista 165 pts SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
6 Valentino Rossi 157 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Cal Crutchlow 151 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Stefan Bradl 135 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
9 Nicky Hayden 122 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Ben Spies 88 pts USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
11 Hector Barbera 83 pts SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Aleix Espargaro 69 pts ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
13 Randy De Puniet 58 pts FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
14 Karel Abraham 50 pts CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
15 Michele Pirro 32 pts ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
16 James Ellison 28 pts GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
17 Yonny Hernandez 28 pts COL BQR-FTR BQR
18 Colin Edwards 25 pts USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
19 Danilo Petrucci 19 pts ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
20 Jonathan Rea 17 pts GBR HONDA Repsol Honda Team
21 Mattia Pasini 13 pts ITA ART Speed Master
22 Ivan Silva 12 pts SPA BQR-FTR BQR
23 Toni Elías 10 pts SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
24 Katsuyuki Nakasuga 7 pts JAP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
25 Steve Rapp 2 pts USA N/A Attack Performance
26 David Salom 1 pts SPA BQR-FTR BQR
27 Roberto Rolfo 0 pts ITA ART Speed Master
28 Franco Battaini 0 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
29 Chris Vermeulen 0 pts AUS SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
30 Aaron Yates 0 pts USA N/A GP Tech
