Casey Stoner took his first ever MotoGP victory at the Grand Prix of Spain and Dani Pedrosa, third on his 100th race in MotoGP, joined him on the podium at the Jerez circuit, where the Repsol Honda Team has celebrated the second consecutive double podium of the season.
There were a lot of wet patches and it was easy to make a mistake - Casey Stoner
In the final five minutes of qualifying, it became a two-man battle with Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo taking pole and Dani following close behind. Casey missed the front row by just 0.014 of a second and started the race in fifth position.
The current World Champion had a difficult start to the 27-lap Grand Prix, but quickly recovered, proving to have something extra in his pocket to fight for his first victory of the season after a superb race in front of a strong Lorenzo.
Dani Pedrosa had a perfect start again, but was passed on the second lap and dropped to fourth position. The Spaniard was quite cautious at the beginning and lost precious time that he was unable to regain in the second half of the race, when he started lapping faster than the leaders.
Dani recovered three seconds in the last 13 laps and held off the pressure from Cal Crutchlow to finish third and taste the podium at Jerez for the eighth successive year.
"We didn't get a great start so I tried to stay out of trouble, there were people out braking each other, touching and it was important just to keep out of the way!" said Casey. "I managed to gain a lot of positions in a short space of time and reached the front.
"I was focusing on where I wanted to go as there were a lot of wet patches and it was easy to make a mistake. Considering the weekend in general and how fast Dani and Jorge are at this track, to win here is something very special for me."
Dani admits he was too cautious at the start of the race and lost crucial time against Dovizioso and Hayden.
"When I managed to overtake them and take the third position, Casey and Jorge were already too far in front, 4 seconds ahead," said Dani. "So I put my head down and started increasing my pace but at the same time it was difficult to keep the concentration because Crutchlow was on a hard front tyre and he was pushing me a lot, braking harder in the last laps.
"It's been a strange race for me. On the grid I thought it might not be a completely dry race so I was very cautions at the beginning also after we saw so many crashes in the first laps of Moto3 and Moto2. A second and a third position finish is not the best, but it's a good start to the season."
Race Result - Round 2
- Casey Stoner 45'33.897 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
- Jorge Lorenzo +0.947 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
- Dani Pedrosa +2.063 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
- Cal Crutchlow +2.465 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- Andrea Dovizioso +18.100 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- Alvaro Bautista +21.395 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
- Stefan Bradl +28.637 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
- Nicky Hayden +28.869 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
- Valentino Rossi +34.852 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
- Hector Barbera +35.103 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
- Ben Spies +38.041 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
- Aleix Espargaro +1'12.728 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
- Danilo Petrucci +1'18.669 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
- Mattia Pasini +1'29.142 ITA ART Speed Master
- Ivan Silva +1'32.478 SPA BQR-FTR BQR
- Colin Edwards +1'40.577 USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
- Karel Abraham +1 lap CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
- Randy De Puniet DNF FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
- James Ellison DNF GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
- Michelle Pirro DNF ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
- Yonny Hernandez DNF COL BQR-FTR BQR
Championship standings
- Jorge Lorenzo 45 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
- Casey Stoner 41 pts AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
- Dani Pedrosa 36 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
- Cal Crutchlow 26 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- Andrea Dovizioso 22 pts ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- Alvaro Bautista 19 pts SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
- Nicky Hayden 18 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
- Stefan Bradl 17 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
- Hector Barbera 13 pts SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
- Valentino Rossi 13 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
- Ben Spies 10 pts USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
- Aleix Espargaro 5 pts ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
- Colin Edwards 4 pts USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
- Danilo Petrucci 3 pts ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
- Randy De Puniet 3 pts FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
- Mattia Pasini 2 pts ITA ART Speed Master
- Yonny Hernandez 2 pts COL BQR-FTR BQR
- Ivan Silva 1 pts SPA BQR-FTR BQR
- James Ellison 0 pts GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
- Karel Abraham 0 pts CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
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