2012 Phillip Island MotoGP | Results

2012 AirAsia Australian Grand Prix Results

Spoiler Alert: 2012 MotoGP results from Phillip Island, Australia, listed below

Two significant things occurred at the 2012 AirAsia Australian Grand Prix – Casey Stoner took his sixth consecutive win at Phillip Island and Jorge Lorenzo clinched the 2012 MotoGP Championship with one round remaining.

This was Lorenzo’s second title in the premier class, the Spaniard clinching it after finishing second. The man who was a threat to Lorenzo – Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa – crashed on the second lap while in the lead.

When the race got underway, Lorenzo got the holeshot, getting to turn one ahead of the pole sitter, Repsol Honda’s Stoner.

But right behind was Pedrosa, who passed Lorenzo within the first few turns. As Pedrosa attempted to pull away, Stoner was behind Lorenzo, and passed him heading into lap two.  Shortly after there was huge drama as Pedrosa pushed too hard and lost the rear of his bike, with Stoner and Lorenzo closely behind. The Spaniard was able to remount, yet had to pit with the bike too damaged, leaving Lorenzo in a strong position to take the world title.

As Stoner pulled away at the front in dominant fashion, an entertaining battle for third ensued being led by Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, followed by teammate Andrea Dovizioso, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista and LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl.

In the meantime, Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison crashed out of the race, while NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards had to retire due to a technical issue. With 18 laps remaining Crutchlow was on a charge as he was lapping faster than Lorenzo, dropping off Dovizioso slightly, who had Bautista stuck to his rear wheel.

Behind, Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi was leading a battle of the Desmosedicis ahead of Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham and Ducati’s Nicky Hayden.

Stoner was leading at the front with Lorenzo and lonely second and Crutchlow a lonely third, yet Bautista, Bradl and Dovizioso were at each other’s throat throughout. With eight laps to go Speed Master’s Roberto Rolfo retired with a mechanical issue.

Further afield and Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró was tussling with teammate Randy de Puniet in their battle for CRT supremacy, with the two swapping positions frequently. With five laps remaining Dovizioso went past Bradl into fourth, whilst Bautista capitalised on this and also squeezed past the German for fifth. And two laps before the end the trio provided fairing-to-fairing action with Dovizioso leading into the last lap, and keeping this position until the line.

Yet ultimately it was Stoner who made it six wins in succession at the Australian track on his final bow at his home circuit, with Lorenzo clinching his second premier-class title with one round to go – the only Spaniard to have more than one. Crutchlow put in a terrific ride as he stormed to his second ever GP podium, despite suffering from illness. Dovizioso was the first non-podium finisher, followed by Bautista, Bradl, Rossi, Hayden, Abraham, as well as Espargaró, who came out on top in the CRT battle with his teammate.

The race was a huge draw for the Australian crowd as an estimated 53,100 fans descended on the track on Sunday, making the estimated three-day attendance a record breaking 122,470.

The series now breaks for two weeks before the season finale at Valencia.

2012 Phillip Island MotoGP Results:

2012 MotoGP Point Standings (after 17 of 18 rounds):