2012 Sepang MotoGP | Results


2012 Malaysian Grand Prix Results

Spoiler Alert: 2012 MotoGP Championship results from Sepang listed below

The 2012 MotoGP Championship headed to Malaysia this weekend for the second of three back-to-back races.

And it was a wet one, filled with many crashes. But when the race was complete, it would be Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa who took the win ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo and the other Repsol rider, Casey Stoner.

This was Pedrosa’s sixth win of 2012 MotoGP, and third straight. It was also the first time the Spaniard won in wet conditions.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “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 tire 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!”

When the race got underway, Lorenzo, starting from the pole, took the holeshot ahead of Pedrosa. Within the first lap, Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi went from 11th to fourth. Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso got a bad start, but made it through the pack and up to fourth.

Lorenzo, having opted for the softer option wet rear tire, had a small margin over Pedrosa with 18 laps to go, who had the harder rear tire. All Yamaha YZR-M1s on the grid as well as Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham had opted for the soft-rear, hard-front combination, with all others running with hards front and rear. A lap later however and Pedrosa was breathing down Lorenzo’s neck having closed the gap to a fraction of a second.

Further afield Stoner was leading a group, about five seconds off the leading duo, with Dovizioso, Rossi, LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista and Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow.

With 12 laps remaining, Pedrosa was continuing to stick to Lorenzo’s rear wheel as the pair looked locked in a stalemate out on track. Further back on the same lap, Yamaha’s Bes Spies suffered a heavy crash out of tenth place, putting a premature end to his race. He was taken to the medical centre to check on a shoulder injury, and was later declared ok.

Rossi also dropped from behind Dovizioso back into ninth, as his teammate Hayden fought his way up to fifth. A lap further on and it was drama for Dovizioso as he also slid out of the race, which continued to be pummelled with rain. It was in the final turn of this lap that Pedrosa made a move stick on Lorenzo to take the lead just over the halfway point, and the Repsol rider instantly looked more comfortable in front, pulling a small gap. In the meantime, NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards retired with a mechanical option.

As the grid headed into lap nine there were further crashes in the final turn as Crutchlow slid off, followed almost directly in the same place by Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet. It was a crash strewn lap, with Bradl also losing the front of his satellite Honda, and Avintia Blusens’ Iván Silva also crashing out. Back on track Rossi looked in his element as he squeezed past Bautista into fifth. Things were also getting interesting at the front as Lorenzo was being not only dropped off by Pedrosa, but also being closed down by Stoner at a very quick rate.

The rain was coming down heavily with 15 laps left, and Lorenzo suffered a very scary moment, where he saved a near crash just seconds before the Red Flag was shown due to safety concerns. After much deliberating as to whether a re-start would be possible, conditions deteriorated, and the win was awarded to Pedrosa, with Lorenzo and Stoner completing the rostrum. This now puts Pedrosa within 23-points, less than one race-win, of title rival Lorenzo, with 50-points still up for grabs in the final two races. Hayden recorded a fantastic fourth, ahead of Rossi, Bautista, Barberá, De Puniet’s teammate Espargaró, Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison and Abraham.

2012 Sepang MotoGP Results:

Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time/Gap
1. 25 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 146.8 29’29.049
2. 20 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 146.5 +3.774
3. 16 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 146.2 +7.144
4. 13 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 145.9 +10.518
5. 11 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 145.4 +16.759
6. 10 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 145.4 +17.276
7. 9 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 142.7 +50.282
8. 8 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 142.6 +51.585
9. 7 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 142.2 +56.676
10. 6 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 142.1 +57.622
11. 5 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 141.7 +1’02.805
12. 4 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 141.7 +1’02.891
13. 3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 139.7 +1’28.989
84 Roberto ROLFO ITA Speed Master ART 0 Lap
Not Classified
6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 145.5 2 Laps
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 145.7 3 Laps
14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 142.7 3 Laps
22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR 140.8 3 Laps
5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 137.5 3 Laps
11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 144.8 5 Lap

2012 MotoGP Championship Point Standings (after 16 of 18 rounds):

Pos. Rider Bike Nation Points
1. Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 330
2. Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 307
3. Casey STONER Honda AUS 213
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Yamaha ITA 195
5. Alvaro BAUTISTA Honda SPA 154
6. Valentino ROSSI Ducati ITA 148
7. Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha GBR 135
8. Stefan BRADL Honda GER 125
9. Nicky HAYDEN Ducati USA 114
10. Ben SPIES Yamaha USA 88
11. Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 79
12. Aleix ESPARGARO ART SPA 63
13. Randy DE PUNIET ART FRA 53
14. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE 43
15. Michele PIRRO FTR ITA 30
16. James ELLISON ART GBR 28
17. Yonny HERNANDEZ BQR COL 28
18. Colin EDWARDS Suter USA 25
19. Jonathan REA Honda GBR 17
20. Danilo PETRUCCI Ioda-Suter ITA 16
21. Mattia PASINI ART ITA 13
22. Ivan SILVA BQR SPA 11
23. Toni ELIAS Ducati SPA 10
24. Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha JPN 7
25. Steve RAPP APR USA 2
26. David SALOM BQR SPA 1

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