Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) scored a brilliant and emphatic victory at Motorland Aragon today after overpowering title rival Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in the early stages. Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V) followed up his Misano podium with a solid ride to sixth, just ahead of MotoGP novice Jonathan Rea (Repsol Honda RC213V).

Pedrosa triumphed at the end of what has been a complicated weekend, with rain affecting all three practice sessions, before the circuit dried out for qualifying yesterday. The former 125 and 250 World Champion then took a heavy tumble during the early stages of qualifying and was beaten to pole by Lorenzo.

From the start of today’s race the two Spaniards were in a class of their own, quickly leaving the rest of the pack behind as they disputed the lead. Lorenzo led the first few laps, while Pedrosa watched, waited and worked out his plan. On lap seven he moved ahead at turn 12 and although Lorenzo tried to go with him, a big moment two laps later convinced him it would be better to settle for second place.

Pedrosa’s fourth win of the year followed his DNF at the preceding San Marino Grand Prix and reduces Lorenzo’s championship lead to 33 points with four races remaining.

Unlike Pedrosa and Lorenzo, Bautista did not take part in an Aragon test session earlier this month, and with so little dry track time over the past two days he was unable to perfect his set-up for today’s race. Starting from the fourth row of the grid he made up places during the early laps before settling into a rather lonely sixth place. He might have done better, but the lack of set-up told because he didn’t feel comfortable pushing any harder.

Rea did well, considering his lack of knowledge of MotoGP machinery. The Ten Kate Honda World Superbike rider – who is substituting for the injured Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC213V) – qualified an impressive seventh and rode another intelligent race, just like he did in his MotoGP debut at Misano. During the closing stages he managed to slightly close the gap on Bautista, but in the end had to be satisfied with seventh.

This was Rea’s last ride on Stoner’s RCV because the reigning World Champion is due to return to action at the Japanese GP in two weeks. Stoner has been recuperating from an operation to fix his right ankle, injured during a qualifying crash at last month’s Indianapolis GP.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP RC213V) was once again in the fight for a podium finish when he slid off on lap five. The German had just taken third place from Ben Spies (Yamaha) when he fell.

Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR-Honda) achieved his eighth points-scoring result of the year, coming home in 15th position after a difficult race. A few minor technical issues prevented Pirro from repeating his top-ten performance at Misano.

The 2012 MotoGP World Championship now heads east for the Japanese, Malaysian and Australian GPs on consecutive weekends. The 18th and final event takes place at Valencia on November 11.




Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: race winner

“It's been a tough weekend in general, with discussions about the last race with race direction and the crash in qualifying yesterday which created a lot of hard work for the mechanics. In the race I remained calm and was able to focus, Jorge began very fast in the early laps, but I was able to stay with him and then after a few laps I saw I could increase the pace and I passed him and tried to find my own rhythm. I was concentrating so hard that I almost forgot that it was a race, then I realised there were only four laps to go! I had a few issues with the clutch into the corners, shifting down, as I did yesterday, but overall the bike was working well so thanks to all my team for their hard work last night and to my fans and family for their support. This victory is for them all!”

Alvaro Bautista, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th

“Considering how practice went sixth place is a positive result. Obviously I'm not particularly happy with it because I think we can do much better and be fighting for results like Misano, but that was always going to be difficult today. I tried my best to chase the second group, but it wasn't possible and I was having to take too many risks so in the end I decided to play it safe and bring the bike home for as many points as possible. It is difficult to race like that and we need to find a solution to our front-end issues if I am going to be able to push the bike week in week out. We have salvaged a difficult situation today but we need to keep working and, knowing this team as I do, I'm sure that's what they'll do.”

Jonathan Rea, Repsol Honda: 7th

“I'm happy I achieved my goal of reducing the gap to the guys at the front, in the end we managed it by ten seconds, but it was another difficult race as I found myself on my own again. At the beginning I let Alvaro have too big a gap and when I tried to make a push, it wasn't enough and we were only taking tenths out of him, but I'm quite satisfied and I've learned a lot. In this race it was quite confusing for me as I was playing with the traction control buttons, the torque settings and the engine braking just to try and figure out what was happening, then there came a point where I told myself just to ride this thing and see what happens. It's been amazing to get this chance and I'm not totally sure what's happening for Motegi, but my best wishes go to Casey and I hope he comes back and shows the world the rider he is and ends his final season on a high. I want to thank all of HRC and the Repsol Honda Team for this opportunity and for treating me like one of their own, not like a replacement rider. It's been an amazing experience. This is my tenth year in the Honda family and hopefully I can come back here someday.”

Michel Pirro, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 15th

“We picked up a point which is a nice boost, but I am a bit disappointed to be honest because I was hoping for more. We had some problems with the bike after a few laps, so for me it was a case of making it to the end and salvaging what I could. It's a shame because after Misano we were hoping for a better result here but it hasn't been possible after a tough weekend all round. We'll try again at Motegi.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: DNF

“It’s difficult to find the right words because we are all very disappointed, but this is racing. My feeling out there was very good today: good overall package, good start and good first laps. I felt very comfortable while braking and then I noticed I could go as fast as guys like Spies and Crutchlow so I wanted to push immediately because I knew that the rear tyre performance would drop off towards the end of the race. I overtook Spies and I lost the front in turn three: maybe I was a bit too aggressive and I am sorry for my team and my fans. Anyway we are in good shape and really looking forward to the next race.”

Pole position : 1m49.404s (167.094Km/h) Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha
Fastest lap : Lap 3 - 1m49.109s (167.546Km/h) Dani Pedrosa, Honda
Circuit record lap : 1m49.046s (167.643Km/h) Casey Stoner, Honda, 2011
Circuit Best Lap : 1m48.451s (168.562Km/h) Casey Stoner, Honda, 2011

Event results - Round 14

1 Dani Pedrosa 42m10.444s SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 6.472 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Andrea Dovizioso 11.047 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
4 Cal Crutchlow 11.184 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Ben Spies 13.786 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
6 Alvaro Bautista 28.166 SPA HONDA Honda Gresini
7 Jonathan Rea 32.290 GBR HONDA Repsol Honda Team
8 Valentino Rossi 44.432 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Karel Abraham 57.417 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
10 Aleix Espargaro 58.525 ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
11 Randy De Puniet 59.863 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Hector Barbera 1'14.561 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
13 Yonny Hernandez 1'16.159 COL BQR Avintia Racing MotoGP
14 James Ellison 1'16.580 GBR ART Paul Bird Motorsport
15 Michele Pirro 1'25.815 ITA HONDA Honda Gresini
16 Mattia Pasini 1'31.801 ITA ART Speed Master
17 Danilo Petrucci 1'42.300 ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
18 Colin Edwards 1 Lap USA SUTER NGM Forward Racing
19 Stefan Bradl DNF GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
20 David Salom DNF ESP BQR Avintia Racing MotoGP
21 Nicky Hayden DNF USA DUCATI Ducati Team

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