FIM MotoGP World Championship Silverstone Circuit, England June 17, 2012 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 20 laps, 41:16.429 2. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), -3.313 seconds 3. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), -3.599 4. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), -5.196 5. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), -11.531 6. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (YAMAHA), -15.112 7. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), -15.527 8. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), -22.521 9. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), -36.138 10. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), -41.328 11. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Aprilia-ART), -63.157 12. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Aprilia-ART), -63.443 13. Michele PIRRO, Italy (Honda-FTR), -67.290 14. James ELLISON, UK (Aprilia-PBM/ART), -74.782 15. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (Kawasaki-BQR/FTR), -75.108 16. Colin EDWARDS, USA (BMW-SUTER), -89.899 17. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (Aprilia-IODA), -100.302 18. Ivan SILVA, Spain (Kawasaki-BQR/FTR), -112.099 19. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (YAMAHA), -1 lap, crash 20. Mattia PASINI, Italy (Aprilia-Speed Master/ART), -6 laps, DNF, retired World Championship Point Standings (after 6 of 18 races): 1. Lorenzo, 140 points 2. Stoner, 115 3. Pedrosa, 101 4. Crutchlow, 66 5. Dovizioso, 60 6. TIE, Rossi/Bautista, 58 8. Bradl, 51 9. Hayden, 49 10. Barbera, 37 11. Spies, 35 12. Aleix Espargaro, 20 13. De Puniet, 11 14. Pirro, 9 15. Ellison, 7 16. Pasini, 6 17. TIE, Karel Abraham/Edwards/Petrucci/Hernandez, 4 21. Silva, 1 More, from a press release issued by Speed Master: COMPLICATED SUNDAY FOR PASINI IN THE GRAND PRIX OF SILVERSTONE The race of the Hertz British Grand Prix was held today, the sixth event of the World Championship 2012. It was a hectic day for Pasini and his crew. After a crash and a technical problem in the warm up session, the Italian started from the sixteenth spot on the grid. Once he got into the pace, Mattia got closer and closer to the other CRT machines, staying behind Ellison and Hernandez and fought for the points. When there were six laps left to the chequered flag, the Italian had a problem with the seat of his ART, which forced him to retire and to give in the fight for a good result. Mattia Pasini #54 – retired “This was an unlucky Sunday. In the warm up, we dedided to try the flag to flag procedure, in case we were forced to deal with it in the race. When I went out with the second bike, the tyres weren’t warm enough and I crashed out. I went out again on the other bike, but there was a technical problem and, in the end, we basically skipped the warm up. It’s a shame, because for the race we were quite well set. In the beginning, on the first laps, we struggled a little, then we got closer to Ellison and Hernandez. I was there with them, waiting for the final part of the race, but then I was forced to retire because of a problem with the seat. I’m sorry it ended up this way, but in the whole we made a good step forward with the speed. Let’s try not to get too sad and to be ready for Assen.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: TENTH PLACE FOR THE PRAMAC TEAM IN SILVERSTONE The 2012 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone circuit kicked off with a mix of patches of dark clouds and rays of sunshine. The White and Green team’s sole rider, Hèctor Barberà, spent the weekend building a good race setup, qualifying strongly in the dry yesterday to start sixth on the grid. The Spanish rider didn’t get a great start, dropping back to 8th place, and he managed to remain in this position for more then 13 laps, but toward the end he was joined and overtaken by factory Ducati rider Valentino Rossi, arriving at the chequered flag in 10th position. The overall standings, with six rounds having been completed, have Hèctor and the Pramac team remaining in the top ten, taking home six important points for the World ranking. Hèctor Barberà Pramac Racing Team Rider 10th place ” It was a difficult race, affected by a quick rear tyre deterioration, which restricted both corner entry and top speed. Now we have to understand what happened on our bike to avoid this kind of issue in the future.” Francesco Guidotti Pramac Racing Team Manager “We expected a tough race, but the result is definitely not up to our potential. The quick rear tyre deterioration limited our performance and now we need to analyze our data to comprehend what happened today.” More, from a press release issued by Power Electronics Aspar: POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR SHINE THROUGH AT CLOUDY SILVERSTONE Aleix Espargaró and Randy De Puniet continue two-way fight for best CRT rider honours, with Spaniard winning out at British GP A dry race at Silverstone featured the usual suspects in the fight for victory, with Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa the trio of riders on the podium. Ben Spies led the way early on, before Stoner found a way through. As the laps went by, Lorenzo grew in strength and passed Stoner on lap ten, gradually establishing a gap that he held until the end. Stoner finished second, whilst Pedrosa came up through the field to complete the podium at the British Grand Prix. Over the course of almost the entirety of the twenty-lap MotoGP race at Silverstone, a matter of between three and four tenths of a second separated the two POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar Team riders. Aleix Espargaró and Randy De Puniet were once again the main players in the battle to be best CRT rider, in a tough tussle carried out with the utmost respect. Espargaró first pulled clear, but De Puniet managed to regain ground and passed his teammate -who was happy to follow from close behind. Two laps from the end, Espargaró went back in front, found the necessary space to keep his lead and was the first CRT rider past the line for the fourth time this season. It was another great weekend for POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar and another strong result to take to the next race, at Assen in two weeks time. 11th Aleix Espargaró: “I’m happier than ever today, as both my brother Pol and I got good results here at Silverstone. I started well and tried to follow the satellite bikes, but they kept leaving me behind on the straights. I was able to pull away from the other CRT riders, but little by little Randy caught me back up. I let him set the pace once he had passed. Two laps from the end, I took over in front and broke away, just as I did at Montmeló. I outbroke him on the first chicane, gritted my teeth and did what I needed to do in order to finish ahead. I have never had a more competitive rival who I get on so well with at the same time. I love this atmosphere that we have in POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar. It is very difficult for me to beat him over the course of a single hot lap in practice, especially when we work more on the race, but I am getting good results recently.” 12th Randy De Puniet: “I didn’t get a very good start and I had to get past Pirro and make up ground in order to get back in touch with Aleix. Once I caught up with him I made a pass and stayed in front for practically the whole race, but I was having a lot of problems with the rear tyre. I felt a lot of movement and I was lacking grip. I tried to put up with this throughout the course of the race and shake off Aleix’s moves, but in the end he must have seen that he was faster than me at certain points on the track. Once he’d got past he managed to open up a gap, and whilst I was able to pull it back on the final laps it wasn’t enough to try and regain the position. I am annoyed, because we did a good job and yet still didn’t find the best chassis setting. In the warmup we improved the feel on the front, but it was the rear that gave us the most scares and affected us most in the race. We will have to keep on working in order to perfect the bike and be more consistent.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Stoner and Pedrosa return to the podium The Repsol Honda Team scored another double podium at the British Grand Prix today, with Casey Stoner in second and Dani Pedrosa, third. It’s the fourth double podium of the season in six races for the factory Honda riders and it comes after a tough weekend working on the set up of the RC213V for the fast, flowing and long Silverstone circuit, further complicated by the unpredictable British weather and the introduction of the new Bridgestone front tyres. Starting from third position on the grid, Casey took the lead within five laps and tried his best to pull away, with Dani running in seventh after a bad start. Jorge Lorenzo was moving through the pack and when he caught Casey in the middle of the race, the two riders entertained the 66,230 Silverstone spectators with some spectacular overtaking manoeuvres before Lorenzo took the lead. With eight laps to go, Casey began loosing contact with Jorge, and Dani managed to close the gap to his team mate, both crossing the finish line with less than half a second separating them. Casey maintains second position in the championship standings with 115 points and Pedrosa is third, 14 points behind. CASEY STONER 2nd World Championship Position: 2nd with 115 points CASEY STONER “It wasn’t a great race for us today, we saw the pace the Yamaha’s had in the early laps and it was really worrying to me. As early as lap three the bike wasn’t feeling good, especially on the left side, the tyre destroyed itself almost immediately. My plan was to try and get to the front and hold them up but Ben was proving difficult to pass, then he made a small mistake and I was able to slip through and I tried to hold it from there. We knew we didn’t have a better pace than the other riders and it wouldn’t be long until they were on us so I did what I could to stay in front. We were loosing so much grip on the edge of the tyre that we had no mid-turn corner speed and we were having to make up for this wit h the entry and a clean exit, which made things difficult. Today we needed a little more grip and we would have been able to fight for the win but looking at the rear tyres at the end of the race, there was definitely something wrong with ours”. DANI PEDROSA 3rd World Championship Position: 3rd with 101 points DANI PEDROSA “I have mixed feelings after this race. I’m happy to be on the podium at this circuit for several reasons: it’s a track where I have always struggled a lot, we had a very tough weekend – it wasn’t easy for us to learn the circuit and set up the bike with these weather conditions, also I didn’t have one of my best race starts. I was seventh on the first lap, but I managed to remain calm and get faster lap after lap, maintaining my rhythm. I saw that Jorge was the man to follow, so I managed to pass Dovizioso, Bautista and Spies and caught Casey, who was second. But at this time, Jorge was gone and I tried twice to pass Casey, but he pulled a little again and in the last chicane, I tried to overtake him but I h ad a flash in my mind and I saw both Repsol Honda’s on the ground, so I settled for third place. It’s positive to both be on the podium if we consider that it’s the first race for the team with this new front tyre, but for the championship it is not good. We need to make a step forward to solve the problems we have with the chattering because right now, Jorge is too strong for the Honda’s”. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Relentless Lorenzo rules British Grand Prix at Silverstone Round 6: British MotoGP™ – Race Silverstone, Sunday 17 June 2012 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium-soft, Medium (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative) Weather: Dry. Ambient 18-19°C; Track 22-28°C (Bridgestone measurement) Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo put in a masterful display at Silverstone to win the British Grand Prix for his third consecutive MotoGP™ victory. In almost a carbon-copy of the last race at Catalunya, Lorenzo came on strong in the second half of the race to pass Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner for the lead with nine laps remaining. Stoner held on for second place ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa, while pole-sitter Alvaro Bautista claimed his best ever MotoGP™ finish with fourth place. Best of the CRT riders at Silverstone was Power Electronics Aspar rider Aleix Espargaro who emerged the victor in a race-long duel with teammate Randy de Puniet to finish in eleventh place. Dark clouds threatened to spoil the race with rain as riders lined up on the grid, though the race was run under dry conditions with track temperatures reaching a maximum of 28°C towards the end of the session as the sun began to shine. The possibility of rain at the start of the race saw all but one rider select the softer rear slick while front tyre choice was evenly split between the softer and harder slick options, with some riders preferring the extra braking stability of the harder front over the better warm-up performance of the softer option. Three wins in a row for Jorge Lorenzo sees him lead Casey Stoner by 25 points in the championship classification, while Dani Pedrosa’s podium at Silverstone consolidates third position overall and he sits 14 points behind Stoner. Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department “What a fantastic race we had today! There were so many great battles throughout the field and the pace at the start of the race was very fast, so I think the better warm-up performance offered by the new front slicks allowed riders to push from the first lap. Jorge’s was once again very impressive on the Yamaha today but most of all I was amazed by Cal’s great performance to finish sixth despite starting last and being injured. “The weather was still unsettled today which made tyre choice difficult for the riders, but Silverstone’s susceptibility to poor weather was the reason we revised the rear slick compounds for this race and I think this development, along with the full availability of the new front slick tyre helped riders cope with the conditions we had this weekend.” Shinji Aoki Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department “Thankfully the morning warm-up session today wasn’t affected by rain which allowed teams to evaluate different slick tyre options for the race. Spots of rain started to fall just as riders went on to the grid and for this reason all but one rider selected the softer rear slick in case conditions worsened. Front tyre choice was more varied with just over half the riders on the harder front and with Jorge and Casey enjoying a good fight though they selected different compound front slicks. I am pleased that both of the new specification front slicks we brought to Silverstone worked well over a race distance.” Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing Race Winner “I was a bit worried at the start of the race as I was in sixth position and the leaders were fast, but I waited for my moment and as the race went on the guys at the front started to slow down. I caught up to them and then Casey and I had a wonderful fight and fortunately for us I had a pace advantage. We have had a perfect season until now so I have to thank Yamaha for all their good work.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Lorenzo Strikes in Silverstone Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo put in superb performance today for the Grand Prix of Great Britain, taking victory at the Silverstone circuit, his third consecutive victory this year. Having started from fourth on the grid, he dropped to fifth at the start and held position until lap six when he carved through to take up second place behind Casey Stoner in the lead. Stoner was only able to hold him off for four laps before the Championship leader made his move, the pass a beautiful battle with his rival over several corners. Lorenzo then led from lap 11 to the finish line, a small mistake four laps from the end causing him to sit up was the only threat to victory. He crossed the line 3.313 seconds ahead of Stoner, taking maximum points and increasing his lead in the 2012 standings to 25 points. Lorenzo heads to Assen in two weeks time now having won four of the six races of the season with a point tally of 140. The victory also increases Yamaha’s lead in the Constructor’s standings to 140, 14 ahead of Honda. Ben Spies made a dazzling start to the race, shooting from the front row to take first place by turn one. The Texan then delivered four perfect laps at the head of the pack and was looking in dominant form until a dramatic drop off in tyre grip dropped him to second by lap five behind Stoner. As he fought to maintain a competitive race pace he gradually dropped to fifth, a position he held to the finish line. The result is his best finish of the season, awarding 11 points and bringing his tally to 35 and keeping him in 11th place in the standings. Jorge Lorenzo Position : 1st Time: 41’16.429 “Today was a very difficult race, the front guys were very strong and very fast so it was very hard for me to catch them and stay with them. Little by little the rear tyre drops a bit more, I had good confidence and I was faster than them and I started to catch them. When I caught up I didn’t want to crash so I waited for my moment and was patient. When I caught Casey we had a wonderful fight, luckily for us I had a better pace and I passed him. Four laps from the end I made a big mistake and almost crashed! I’m very happy with the result, and for the team who gave me a good bike again.” Ben Spies Position : 5th Time: +11.531 “Today was a bitter sweet day, we made a good start and had a really good pace in the beginning. After four or five laps we had a big problem with the rear tyre and lost all our momentum and pace. It turned into damage control after that. From the start of the season to now, top five is a better result. The potential of the bike was great today and we could have been fighting for the podium or the win with Jorge.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “Today was the third victory in a row after a difficult weekend of very mixed conditions. There were lots of unpredictable circumstances so a great victory for us. After a lot of hard work from the team Jorge kept his patience in the beginning and pushed on the end as hard as he could, a well deserved win!” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “Another important win for Jorge, the point lead is increasing, still not enough to be comfortable but going in the right direction! Ben made a really great start and led the race for a few laps. Then unfortunately he had quite a huge drop with the rear tyre and he couldn’t keep the same pace. We will now check the reason why we had this issue. We’re going to Assen in the right spirit and looking forward to it.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Heroic Crutchlow claims stunning Silverstone top six Cal Crutchlow treated British fans to a heroic and courageous performance at Silverstone this afternoon, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team storming to a stunning top six finish from the back of the grid. The 26-year-old was only passed fit to ride minutes before the start of this morning’s warm-up session after he suffered a fractured bone in his left ankle following a nasty fall in yesterday’s final practice session. Having missed qualifying, Crutchlow had to start the 20 -lap race from the back row of the grid, but right from the start he treated 66,230 British fans to a truly unforgettable performance. By the end of the second lap, Crutchlow had already passed all nine CRT machines to move into 11th, with Valentino Rossi 3.3s clear in 10th. Despite the considerable discomfort caused when changing direction and shifting gears, Crutchlow passed Rossi for 10th on lap six and he then superbly hunted down Hector Barbera and Stefan Bradl to seize seventh by lap 11. Crutchlow continued to grit his teeth and ride through the pain barrier but his hopes of a top six seemed remote when he trailed Nicky Hayden by seven seconds on lap 12. Roared on by his home crowd, Crutchlow set a stunning pace that matched the leading group and a remarkable charge through the field was complete when he secured sixth from Hayden o n the final lap. Today’s heroic display saw Crutchlow receive a deserved standing ovation from an appreciative home crowd when he returned to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 garage. Today’s race didn’t have the same happy outcome for Andrea Dovizioso, who showed terrific pace in the early stages to fight for the podium in an exciting battle for the lead. The Italian superbly fought off the challenge of Hayden, Dani Pedrosa and Ben Spies to move into third position on lap nine. But just as he began to pursue Casey Stoner in second, he fell out of contention for a fourth successive British Grand Prix podium at Turn 9. Dovizioso escaped injury in the crash but had to pit briefly after the protector guarding h is front brake lever was damaged. He re-joined the race and finished in 19th and is confident he will be back fighting for the podium at the legendary Assen track later this month. Cal Crutchlow 6th 66 points: “That’s a weekend I won’t forget in a hurry. Yesterday was a disaster with the crash and I thought I was going to miss my home race again. But the Clinica Mobile team and medical staff at Silverstone did an amazing job and I am grateful that I could finally start my home Grand Prix. I never imagined I could get sixth position because normally if you start from the third row it is very difficult to get into that position. So starting from the back of the grid, I’d have been happy to finish the last prototype bike. It was a very tough race but I just had to try and ignore the pain and let the adrenaline and support of the British crowd get me through. When I got by Bradl I could see Nicky was a long way clear, but I just kept on pushing to see what happened. I’m really happy with my lap times because I was as quick as the guys on the podium, even with a broken ankle. So a little part of me can’t help but think without the crash yesterday that I could have been on the podium in the British Grand Prix. I’m not going to complain with sixth and I want to say thanks to my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew, who basically chose the set-up of the bike for me and it worked great. Also a big thanks to all the British fans who were unbelievable today. When I was lying in the gravel yesterday all I could think was they weren’t going to see me ride in my home race again. Their support helped me a lot and I hope they went home proud of the job I did for them.” Andrea Dovizioso 19th 60 points: “It is a real shame because I had the possibility to fight for second place today. The rhythm of the race in the early laps was incredibly high and we were much faster than in practice. I really was at the limit early on but afterwards everybody apart from Lorenzo had to slow down a little bit. That allowed me to come back to the leading group and I really had a good pace. I had just taken third and was really confident I could finish on the podium when I crashed and I am not happy about it because I didn’t expect it. It happened when I felt most comfortable with the bike and I definitely was not over the limit. I just did a very small mistake losing the rear and I couldn’t keep control of the bike. That was very disappointing but from a positive point of view this was another race where I have improved my feeling with the YZR-M1 a lot and I’m sure I could have finished second and very close to the victory. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is doing an incredible job and the Yamaha is a fantastic bike to ride, so I go to Assen optimistic of another podium challenge.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager: “That was a truly incredible race and words almost fail me to describe the job that Cal did today. We weren’t even sure this morning that he could ride, so for him to finish in the top six is a result I don’t think we expected or will ever forget. We thought he might be able to get close to the top 10 but obviously once the adrenaline kicked in and he felt his confidence coming back, he got his head down and we were happy when he got seventh. He was a long way behind Nicky but to pass him on the last lap sums Cal up perfectly. He never gives up, he’s got amazing self-belief and he has got a lot of guts to match his talent. I am proud of him and I’m sure all of the Bri tish fans are too. It is a shame for Andrea today because it was clear that he had the pace for the podium. He was mixing it and beating a lot of factory bikes and only Casey and Jorge were ahead of him. It was a small mistake and he got punished a lot and it is a big pity because I’ve no doubt we’d have been celebrating another podium with him today. But once again both Cal and Andrea have demonstrated how strong the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team package is. Congratulations as well go to Jorge and Yamaha. Together they are doing an amazing job and today’s race highlighted again what a potent combination they are.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna: In a day that once again saw three fantastic races across the MotoGP™ classes at the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone, it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo who recorded a hard-fought victory in the premier-class ahead of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. The predicted rain stayed away for the MotoGP grid as Yamaha’s Ben Spies took the holeshot ahead of Repsol Honda Team’s Stoner and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s pole-sitter Álvaro Bautista. Spies made a tremendous start leading the early stages from Stoner, Bautista and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden. Lorenzo lost a place in the first bends, and was soon leading a separated group for fifth place. With 17 laps remaining Lorenzo started to find his rhythm as he looked to close the gap to the front four, followed by Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Soon after, Stoner made a move past Spies, as the Texan made a mistake, going too hot into a turn. More overtaking was to follow, as Lorenzo took advantage of a gap left by Hayden to hunt down Bautista. With Stoner having pulled out a small gap at the front, Lorenzo did not want his rival to get away and forced his way past Bautista, relegating the San Carlo rider into fourth. The tussle was not to stop, as Lorenzo stormed past his teammate into second, with Spies being overtaken by Bautista as well a corner later. With 11 laps left Lorenzo was closing in on the rear wheel of Stoner, starting a thrilling battle for top spot. On the same lap Dovizioso crashed out of his positions, while his teammate Cal Crutchlow fought past LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl into seventh. Heading into lap nine, Lorenzo took Stoner on the final turn, yet the Australian fought straight back in the next turn, as the pair kept the crowd on their toes with some thrilling moves. A lap further on, the duo of Pedrosa and Bautista started to slowly close the gap on Stoner, who looked to be slowing. With six laps left it turned into a three-way battle for second place, as Lorenzo was opening a gap at the front. The Spaniard suffered a slight scare with four laps left as he was almost thrown from his bike, but he managed to save it and retain the lead, albeit with a reduced gap to the pursuing Stoner. In the latter stages there were thrilling battles further back as Crutchlow battled past Hayden into sixth, and Power Electronics Aspar pair Aleix Espargaró and Randy de Puniet were fairing to fairing until the finish line. In the end it was Lorenzo who held his nerve to cross the finish line first to take the top step of the podium and extend his championship lead, ahead of Stoner and Pedrosa who complete the rostrum. Stoner stated after the race he felt there was an issue with his rear tyre. Fourth went to Álvaro Bautista, ahead of Ben Spies, and Cal Crutchlow, who put in a brave ride with his injury. The top ten were completed Hayden, Bradl, Ducati’s Rossi and Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá. Top CRT spot once again went to Espargaró ahead of his teammate in 11th, while Dovizioso remounted after his crash to finish 19th. Moto2 In a thrilling Moto2™ race it was Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró who took victory at the Hertz British Grand Prix in Silverstone ahead of Scott Redding and Marc Márquez. The race was declared dry from the start and it was Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith who got the holeshot along with Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding. They made it a British one-two in the opening two laps as they were tussling for top spot. With 16 laps to go, the following group of Espargaró, Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone and Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez made their move on Smith, who looked to be struggling, and tucked in behind leader Redding. Meanwhile it was drama early on for JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco, who crashed out and finished his race prematurely. With 14 laps left, a group of seven riders were pulling away from the pack also including Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi and Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti. Two laps later it appeared as Redding and Espargaró were pulling out a slight advantage at the front, as Iannone and Márquez were involved in an exciting fight for the final podium spot. Yet just one lap later Espargaró pounced on Redding to take the lead, after which Iannone took advantage to slip into second. Espargaró’s teammate Axel Pons crashed out with 10 laps to go, putting an end to a disappointing weekend for the Spaniard. A lap later Márquez got into Redding’s slipstream to pass the Brit further down into fourth and hunt down the leaders. With Márquez not wanting Espargaró to get away, he overtook Iannone with seven laps left, with Redding also pushing past the Italian. The tussle for second was spicing up between Redding and Márquez as the two swapped positions frequently in the final laps and on the last lap it was an almighty fight to the line with Redding just edging out the Spaniard, much to the delight of the home crowd Yet in the end it was Espargaró who took the chequered flag for his second win this season, with Redding and Márquez occupying the final podium spots. They were followed by Andrea Iannone, Simone Corsi, Claudio Corti, Bradley Smith, Tom Lüthi, Technomag-CIP’s Dominique Aegerter and Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio. Moto3 At this weekend’s Moto3™ race at the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone it was Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales who took a hard-fought victory in front of Luis Salóm and Sandro Cortese. In the best conditions seen all weekend the Moto3™ contingent got underway with Caretta Technology’s Alexis Masbou getting the holeshot in front of JHK T-Shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez. However in true Moto3™ fashion a group at the front soon formed with Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales, RW Racing GP’s Luis Salóm, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Sandro Cortese, Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi and Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati. Masbou’s teammate Jack Miller was an early crasher on lap one, whilst Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins also crashed out with 16 laps to go. Miller suffered a fractured left collarbone, whilst Rins suffered a fracture to his second metacarpus on his left hand, and a fracture to his second finger on his right hand. The front group was being led in stages by a mix of Viñales, Salóm and Vázquez, while Cortese and Rossi were touching fairings behind. With 13 laps remaining, IodaRacing Team’s Jonas Folger’s bad luck continued as his race finished early, with British wild card entrant John McPhee from the Racing Steps Foundation KRP crashing out, but managing to remount. With eight laps left, Giulian Pedone suffered a problem, as his race ended prematurely. Two laps later Viñales tried to make a break as the field started to stretch slightly, however Salóm and Cortese were sticking closely to the leader’s tail. It was heartbreak for Mahindra Racing’s local boy Danny Webb, as he was forced to retire in front of his home crowd. It was a nail-biting last lap as Cortese took Salóm for second, who had been fighting with Viñales. Yet Salóm was battling until the end and put in a tough move to regain second. It was drama for Le Mans race-winner Rossi who lost the front end in the final turns, as he missed out on the scrap to the line. The race ended with Viñales crossing the finish line to take his third victory this season and the championship lead, ahead of Salóm and Cortese, who complete the podium. They finished ahead of Masbou in fourth, followed by Vázquez, Kent, Fenati, Sissis, Khairuddin and Oliveira. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: BRAVE 8TH POSITION FOR BRADL AT SILVERSTONE Silverstone, 17th June: In the last two days the weather has not been kind to the 2012 British Grand Prix, with strong winds, low temperatures and occasional downpours but the sixth round of the season was held in dry conditions today at 13.00 local time with the LCR Honda MotoGP rider Stefan finishing the 20-lap race in 8th position. Reigning Moto2 World Champion had a painful second day at Silverstone, crashing on his out-lap during this morning’s session. Bradl hurt the fourth finger on his left hand in the fall but lined up in 9th place to contest a brave race aboard his RC213V. Stefan: “We can be happy overall because today we improved our pace both in the warm up and in the race. Unfortunately yesterday I crashed in FP3 and that cost us a lot of track time but it could be worse than this: I mean I could break my finger. So it’s not been the perfect weekend for us but we have to take the positive things. Today my start was not perfect due to the injured finger and I lost the feeling for the first laps. Then I got stopped by some riders and it was tough to overtake them. In the middle of the race Crutchlow passed me and I made a small mistake with the clutch because the downshifting was harder with this painful finger. Anyway our lap times till the end of the race were pretty fast so this means we have a good potential: let’s see what we can do in Assen”. More, from a press release issued by Avintia Blusens Racing: Yonny Hernández manages to score again whereas Iván Silva finishes eighteenth Silverstone, 17 June 2012. It was yet another two-sided race for the Avintia Blusens MotoGP team. Whereas Yonny battled throughout the race to score points and be ranked among the best CRT´s Iván “struggled” with a setting-up which did not enable him to feel at ease. Hernández had an exciting battle with Ellison until the final lap in which they passed each other on various occasions and even if the English rider came out on top Hernández managed to score another point for himself. Even though he improved slightly in the warm-up Silva could not help lagging behind and crossed the finish in eighteenth position already looking into the next race. 68 Yonny Hernández (15º +1’15.108): “We made a bad start and I struggled a lot to catch up with the lead pack in our class. I had a very interesting battle with Ellison and the final lap was frantic. We came forward quite a few times and it was really exciting. I eventually managed to score again but I´d really like to finish among the best CRT´s in the next race.” 22 Iván Silva (18º +1’52.099): “We are not where we belong but anyway I’d like to thank the technical team as we kept on trying new things which enabled us to improve even if it’s not much. This weekend we tried out a new fork but in this morning’s warm-up we went back to the settings we had in Montmeló and we slightly improved. Then in the race the rear wheel didn’t have much grip which made things complicated. I’d like to thank the team again to keep it up and I hope we´ll do better from the G.P. Of Assen onwards.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati: At Silverstone, Ducati Team reduces gap to the front in the dry The British Grand Prix at Silverstone presented a big challenge for the Ducati Team, but it also provided some positive signs for the technicians regarding the progress made and the work still to be done. After starting from the third row, Nicky Hayden spent the first part of the race with the four-rider group that was fighting over the podium positions, and although he steadily lost ground in the second half before finishing seventh, his gap to the front was the team’s smallest in the dry so far this season. Valentino Rossi experienced more difficulty than his teammate, and he wasn’t able to find the same feeling that he had in the morning warm-up session, in which he had made progress. On Saturday, both riders will star in World Ducati Week, which will take place at Misano from 21-24 June, and where they’ll count on the support and affection of tens of thousands of Ducatisti from all over the world. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 7th “We did the sighting lap with the hard rear tyre, but with the sprinkles and dark clouds, we decided to play it safe and switch to the soft on the grid. Everybody else had it too, but we know our bike has been hard on tyres here. I got an awesome start, and the beginning of the race was great. I took some chances to hang in as long as I could, and I enjoyed it and learned some things. Then the grip went, which brought on a lot of chatter. I couldn’t accelerate or carry speed on the straightaway, and we started having a little problem with the electronics in one corner, which cost us some time. Crutchlow got me on the last lap, which is frustrating, but I had my smallest gaps to the front this year in terms of race time and best lap. We need to figure out how to make me and the bike less hard on the rear tyre, but there were some positives.” Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 9th “It was a difficult weekend apart from the wet first session, in which we were very strong, as we had trouble in every dry session except for this morning’s warm-up. From the start of the race, I wasn’t able to maintain the pace of the others. I tried to stay with them, but I struggled a lot with mid-corner chatter, and a couple of times I came close to losing control of the bike. After some laps, the rear tyre started to slide a lot, and at the same time an exhaust broke. To be honest, that didn’t affect us so much, though it did rob some power on the straightaway. We scored a few points, but Silverstone is still the most difficult track for me. I think that the ‘true’ Ducati today was that of Nicky, who had a smaller gap to the front at the finish, more or less the level we reached in Barcelona. Now we must try to understand why I was only able to ride a bit better this morning, in the warm-up, but above all we must try to be more competitive in the next race, at Assen, which is a track that I like and where we want to return to the level we had at Estoril, Le Mans, and Barcelona.” Vittoriano Guareschi, Team Manager “I think that there were some positive aspects to today’s race. Nicky rode at the top riders’ pace for a while and he posted the third-best lap time overall, 34 thousandths off of Lorenzo’s best. He lost ground to the others in the latter stages, similar to what happened to Valentino in Barcelona two weeks ago, so by studying the information we collected with both of them, we’ll try to understand how to improve our performance over race distance. Valentino had more trouble, but nonetheless, he was very fast in the wet, which wasn’t the case last year in the same conditions. Of course this isn’t enough, and we must manage to give both of our riders the conditions they need to be consistently effective in normal conditions. We’ll continue to work toward that goal, step by step.”