2011 Misano MotoGP | Race Results

2011 MotoGP

Spoiler Alert: 2011 Misano MotoGP results below

For the second time in 2011, the MotoGP Championship descended on Italian shores, the grid lining up Sunday at Misano in San Marino for Round 13.

Heading into Misano, Casey Stoner had a 44-point lead over the reigning MotoGP Champion, Jorge Lorenzo. But after Sunday’s 28-lap race at the technical Misano, that lead was reduced to 35 points.

This was due to Lorenzo returning to the top; the Yamaha Factory Racing M1 pilot lead every lap of the race, winning by 7.299 seconds over Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Taking the final podium position was Stoner, who has finished on the podium for 12 of 13 races, including seven wins.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing M1 MotoGP) says: “Today has been an incredible day for us. I have delivered a good race; it was a very tough and long one. Most importantly we have won again and also reduced a little bit our gap to Casey.

“I want to dedicate this victory to Wayne who returned to Misano this weekend and I want to say thanks to all my team for their hard work. Now we have two weeks before Aragon, I hope to continue in this shape in my country. Tomorrow we will try the 1000cc Yamaha again; I am looking forward to riding my future bike. This has been one of the best days of my career!”

Instead of his usual holeshot-start, Pedrosa ended up third behind Stoner. As Lorenzo was continually opening a gap over Stoner. The Australian began struggling, stating he was tired and worn out because of the intense racing, which included last weekend’s race at Indy that Stoner dominated. And with six laps to go, Pedrosa pulled the trigger on the RC212V, passing Stoner.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V MotoGP) says: “I’m a little disappointed with the race because the bike didn’t feel as good as it was in practice. We wanted to make a change to the suspension to improve it a little but we had the opposite effect, sometimes it happens.

“From the first lap, I realized I couldn’t keep up with Jorge and Casey, at the beginning the bike was closing the front and then it was sliding in the rear. The second part of the race was good, Jorge had a perfect race today, but I was able to improve my times lap by lap and catch Casey.

“I overtook him and maintained my rhythm to the finish with another second place in two weeks, which it’s not so bad. We’ve been lucky today as it was cooler than yesterday and finally the rain didn’t come.

“It’s been two very demanding races in a row and this one in particular was perhaps the toughest of the season so far, as the circuit is challenging with so many hard braking areas and it has been very hot again, also after Indy it has been difficult to recover from the jet lag and fatigue. Let’s hope we can get some rest and be stronger for Aragon.”

Stoner also commented on fatigue folloing Misano MotoGP.

Casey Stoner (REpsol Honda RC212V MotoGP) says: “At the beginning of the race I was cautious as there were a few spots of rain, once this cleared up I was pretty comfortable behind Jorge [Lorenzo], I didn’t feel the need to push and then the tiredness suddenly hit me.

‘It was hard to find the braking points and change direction on the bike, there was nothing wrong with the tires, nothing wrong with the bike, the team did a great job and gave me a fantastic package, I’m just worn out.

“After the past few races I’ve had to put in a lot more effort in Laguna and Brno, riding a lot harder than I normally would. This together with the neck injury from Assen which I’ve been struggling to get strong again due to lack of training from the hectic race calendar, has finally caught up with me.

“For the second half of the race I was just too tired, simple as that, I’m very grateful to have finished on the podium. All credit to Jorge, he had a fantastic race, hopefully by Aragon I’ll be fully fit and recovered.”

Rounding out the top five were two Italians – San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli and the third and final Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso.

Ben Spies again took the top finish of the Americans, taking sixth aboard the Yamaha Factory Racing M1.

Although he started from 11th on the grid, Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi finished seventh, ahead of Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista. Hector Barbera took ninth aboard the Mapfre Aspar Ducati, with Simoncelli’s teammate Hiroshi Aoyama.

As for the other factory Ducati rider Nicky Hayden, the American crashed out on the third lap. Pramac Racing Ducati’s Loris Capirossi had bike issues, and retired to the pits on the 20th lap.

2011 Misano MotoGP: Results