By Dan Moakes
May 1 2012

Reigning champion Casey Stoner had been hit with arm pump during the opening Grand Prix of 2012, with the Honda man relegated to third place as Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo took victory in Qatar to start the MotoGP world championship season. Round two was taking place in Spain.

Lorenzo and Stoner had been joined on the podium at Losail by second man Dani Pedrosa, making it two Spaniards leading the rest home. These two local riders would be the men with all the home support at Jeréz, where both had won races in past seasons. Lorenzo had won the Spanish GP for the last two years, and overall had recorded four GP wins at the circuit; Pedrosa had won there twice, and a third Spanish rider had also tasted victory in the past: Álvaro Bautistá in the 125cc race in 2006.

Set-up time during practice for the 2012 race was disrupted by the weather, which remained wet during the early sessions. Qualifying was dry in part, and the two home heroes got it right to set the two fastest times. Lorenzo took pole position on his factory Yamaha, which was his twentieth P1 start in the premier class, and Pedrosa secured second place on the grid with his works Repsol Honda. Stoner, on the second orange and black RCV, was on the second row in fifth place.

Not since Stoner’s last outing on a Ducati, at the end of 2010, had one of the Italian machines achieved a front row starting position, but that long absence was put right here by third man Nicky Hayden. His team-mate on the red bike, eight-times Jeréz winner Valentino Rossi, was ten places back in P13, and therefore behind the two Ducati customer team riders. Just like in Qatar, the best of the non-factory racers in qualifying was Englishman Cal Crutchlow, this time fourth with the Tech 3 Yamaha.

Crutchlow was therefore in front of Lorenzo’s team-mate, sixth placed Ben Spies, and also his Tech 3 colleague Andrea Dovizioso, seventh on the fourth of the Yamahas. The other pair of Honda RC213V riders completed the third row, with Bautistá eighth for the Gresini team, ahead of LCR’s Stefan Bradl. Heading up the CRT runners was tenth man Randy de Puniet (Aspar ART), who therefore was in front of three full-MotoGP prototype bikes, the Ducatis of Karel Abraham (Cardion AB), Héctor Barberá (Pramac) and Rossi.

The last group of riders on the grid comprised the remaining CRT entries, with their leading representative from Qatar right at the back this time. Colin Edwards (Forward Suter), like Bautistá, had crashed during practice, which may have contributed to his P21 start. He followed on behind 14th man Aleix Espargaró (Aspar ART), then Michele Pirro (Gresini FTR), Mattia Pasini (Speed Master ART), Yonny Hernández (Avintia FTR), Danilo Petrucci (Ioda), Iván Silva (Avintia FTR) and James Ellison (Bird Motorsport ART).

On race day there had been more wet weather affecting the Moto3 and Moto2 races, but by the time of the premier class event the track was mostly dry again. All the riders went for slick Bridgestone tyres with the soft compound on the rear, although a few opted for medium on the front. Just before the start, Hernández stalled his FTR-Kawasaki and was pushed into the pitlane. Although he followed the field out from there, he failed to complete a single lap.

The start saw Pedrosa make a familiar good getaway and take the lead, from Lorenzo, Crutchlow, Hayden, Spies and Dovizioso, the last two about to swap, and with Stoner only seventh out of the first corner. The fifth corner on the track is the long right-hand Curva Sito Pons, and this saw Crutchlow run wide and allow Hayden to overtake. Cal was then able to force his way back ahead on the inside at the end of the following straight, braking for the tight right-handed Curva Dry Sack. This also allowed enough room for both Dovizioso and Stoner to follow him through.

Spies had already lost out to Stoner and was now pushed back further by Bradl and Bautistá. Behind leader Pedrosa, Dovizioso for a short time held second ahead of Lorenzo and, with Crutchlow again going wide at Pons, Stoner moved into fourth, with Hayden now sixth. Jorge recovered second position when he forced through on the inside of Andrea at Dry Sack, also giving Casey room to follow. Nicky had also got by Cal, and the action involving Dovizioso at Dry Sack allowed the Ducati man to relegate another Tech 3 machine on the way out of the corner.

The all-action racing involving the leading group was not over yet. Pedrosa and Lorenzo led the way for Spain until third man Stoner made a move at the final left-hand hairpin, Curva Ducados, to take second. The Australian was setting the best pace early on and soon enough out-braked team-mate Pedrosa for Dry Sack, and in the same action Lorenzo also got through, with Hayden right there and taking advantage on the outside. Stoner led Lorenzo and Hayden, and with Dovizioso about to pass Pedrosa at the second corner, the Curva Michelin right-hander. Afterwards, Dani would admit that he’d been a bit too cautious early on.

Bradl had so far kept hold of seventh position, and for a while remained in touch with the leading group, with Bautistá also not far off. Spies was in ninth, ahead of a Ducati squabble involving Rossi and Barberá. The Pramac man had gone past de Puniet, to be followed through by Abraham, then it was Ellison, Espargaró, Pirro, Pasini, Petrucci, Silva and Edwards. Before long there would be a close group of five men racing for ninth, involving the Ducatis of Barberá, Rossi and Abraham, as well as Spies and CRT star de Puniet.

Up front, Stoner had edged open his advantage over Lorenzo, who then stabilised the gap and remained in touch. Meanwhile, the next group was being left behind. Crutchlow was on fastest lap pace as he initially looked to put pressure on Pedrosa, with Hayden and Dovizioso just ahead of them. Dani moved back to the front of the group, helped by his Honda’s speed along the main straight, allowing Dovizioso and Hayden to get into a tussle over fourth. Nicky managed to run wide at Dry Sack, which let Cal get past, and soon the 26-year-old also relegated his Italian team-mate.

Pedrosa found himself 2.8s behind the two leaders, with Stoner now fastest again and about 0.9s in front of Lorenzo. Dani put his efforts into closing the gap, with Crutchlow homing in and trailing the Spaniard, and with Dovizioso initially tagging on behind. Stoner was not shaking off Lorenzo, who remained under a second behind, and as the Honda ran wide at one point, with nine laps still to run, the gap was more like 0.4s. At the same time, the margin between second and third was also being gradually reduced, as the next pair dropped off the fifth man.

Stoner and Lorenzo were both running the softer compound front tyres, and the late stages of the race saw both men battling their worn rubber. Jorge lost some ground when he ran a bit wide at Curva Dry Sack, but Casey had one or two slides of his own. With the sun out for the finish, Lorenzo got very close on one occasion at Curva Ducados, but the final lap saw Stoner do enough to just re-extend his leading gap for a safe victory - the 120th GP win for an Australian in the premier class. He revealed that his arm had troubled him again, but not to the same extent as in round one.

The finish saw Lorenzo home second, and with the gap behind to Pedrosa just a bit wider than the one to Stoner ahead. Crutchlow matched his fourth place from Qatar, but this time was right behind the final podium man, with Cal just 2.4s from the leader at the flag. Dovizioso had not kept pace with his Tech 3 team-mate, but nevertheless he also matched his fifth place from Qatar. He had not been troubled by Hayden in the latter part of the race.

Nicky’s leading Ducati had in fact come under fire from the two satellite Honda machines, with Bautistá taking over in P7 from Bradl as they closed in on the red bike. Soon enough both men were through, and then Álvaro began to move clear to take sixth, which meant third Spaniard home. Bradl was seventh, a one place improvement over his only previous MotoGP result, just ahead of Hayden. A distance back from them had been the battle between Spies and the other three Ducati runners, after de Puniet fell back.

Rossi and Barberá had made it into a two-man affair for ninth, with the Pramac rider ahead at times, but with Valentino there at the flag. Spies had got in front of Abraham when the Czech rider crashed, his efforts to rejoin being unsuccessful, and therefore Ben was secure in P11. That left the CRT runners, with the leader throughout having been de Puniet. However, he was unlucky enough to run out of fuel on the last lap, so that team-mate Espargaró took the honours, from Petrucci, Pasini, Silva and Edwards. Ellison and Pirro had been battling in front of the final four, but the Italian suffered an engine failure and James pulled into the pits later on. For Silva, this meant his first point in a short, intermittent GP career that nevertheless dated back as far as 1998.

It had been a close race for the win, and Casey Stoner’s success was a bit of a novelty at a track where things have never quite gone his way in the past. Six previous Grands Prix at Jeréz, in the period 2002-2010, had seen him finish in either fifth or sixth position. Only in 2009 had he reached the podium here, in third place. But again this had not been a dominant Stoner performance, with Jorge Lorenzo keeping him honest and maintaining his championship lead. It could be a three-way title chase this year, also involving Dani Pedrosa, but in this race we had clear signs that Cal Crutchlow is shaping up to be the best of the rest. He will surely be looking for the first spot on the podium for a British rider since 2000.

Standings after two races: Lorenzo 45; Stoner 41; Pedrosa 36; Crutchlow 26; Dovizioso 22; Bautistá 19; Hayden 18; Bradl 17; Barberá and Rossi 13 ·· CRT leader: Espargaró.
Yamaha and Honda 45; Ducati 18; ART 7; Suter-BMW 4; FTR-Kawasaki and Ioda-Aprilia 3.