MotoGP - Pedrosa rules in Aragón with dominant victory

Lap four saw Pedrosa close in on Lorenzo’s rear wheel, as Avintia Blusens’ David Salom had to retire from the race. Meanwhile LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl took Spies for third, yet crashed out a few turns later as he lost the front pushing too hard. This left the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso to hunt down the American for a spot on the podium. It took Pedrosa until lap seven to make his move on Lorenzo, taking the lead for the first time.

On lap nine Lorenzo had a big wobble giving Pedrosa a bigger gap at the front, as Rossi was making his way up through the pack. With 13 laps left, Crutchlow ran wide coming onto the home straight, letting Dovizioso into fourth. Six laps later Pedrosa had pulled out a gap of over four seconds at the front, as Dovizioso made his way past Spies, with Crutchlow probing the inside line of the American, but to no avail.

The Brit was however not to be deterred and got past with five laps to go, immediately setting his sights on his Italian teammate. At the same time an entertaining battle for 13th ensued between Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison and Avintia’s Yonny Hernandez. A lap later Rossi’s day took another bad turn as he ran wide through the gravel, but retained eighth place.

The Tech 3 pair provided a thrilling last couple of laps fighting for the final podium spot, with the Brit desperately looking for a way past. In some hard passing where the two went fairing-to-fairing Crutchlow was altering his line in numerous corners to get past the Italian who was defending aggressively.

In the end it was Pedrosa who crossed the finish line first over six seconds ahead of second placed Lorenzo, with Dovizioso taking his sixth podium this year. Pedrosa has now cut the championship gap to Lorenzo to 33 points. Crutchlow came in a close fourth, with San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, Rea, Rossi, and Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham completing the top nine. Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró came in tenth as top CRT in tenth.

The result marks Pedrosa’s fourth win of 2012 and 19th of his MotoGP™ career, one day after celebrating his 27th birthday.

Pedrosa stole the lead from Lorenzo at Turn 12 on the sixth lap, then extended the margin which became only greater when the latter suffered a large slide at the first corner.

Having started from pole position, Lorenzo lost the lead when Repsol Honda Team’s Pedrosa sliced through at Turn 12 on the sixth tour. The former attempted to follow closely, but was fortunate to remain in the race as he experienced a large slide at the first corner. He eventually finished 6.4 seconds behind his Spanish compatriot.

As MotoGP heads to Japan’s Motegi Circuit in a fortnight’s time, the championship-leading duo are also contesting the constructors’ title. Honda now leads Yamaha by just six points.

Came IodaRacing Project’s pole-sitter Simone Corsi led into the first turn followed buy Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti and Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró. And there were incidents from the off, as Corti’s teammate Takaaki Nakagami slid off track, taking out NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis.

The opening laps were already a hard-fought affair, as Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone and Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez pushed their way into podium positions behind Corsi, with Espargaró on their tail. With 17 laps remaining it was also misery for Tech 3 Racing’s Xavier Siméon, with the Mistral rider crashing out, whilst back at the front Corsi’s reign was over as Márquez made his move to lead the race for the first time.

Espargaró and Iannone made use of Corsi’s apparent drop of pace, going into second and third, with JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco also looking for a way past. Corsi however refused to yield, and forced his way past Iannone to retake third heading into lap eight. And the predictable nature of Moto2 kicked in once more as Corsi took advantage of a gap for second, however was immediately taken back. Yet it was Iannone who looked to have found second wind as he went into second place with nine laps remaining.

Not wishing to wait for the last lap, with five laps before the end Iannone, Espargaró and Márquez were fairing to fairing with positions swapping almost every corner. Along with Zarco, Tech 3’s Bradley Smith and Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding got involved in the battle, with Redding pushing Márquez particularly hard. The final two laps were an edge-of-your-seat affair, as Espargaró pulled out a small lead, with Márquez and Iannone touching in every corner as they fought for second. Yet it was Redding who capitalised on this as he took Iannone for third on the final lap.

And it was Espargaró who kept his nerve to take his third victory of the season, with Márquez and Redding completing the rostrum. Márquez still keeps the lead in the championship by 48 points, whilst Redding celebrated his fourth podium this season. Iannone came in fourth ahead of Smith, Zarco, Corsi, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Jordi Torres, Corti and QMMF Racing’s Anthony West, who had a terrific race.

Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales dramatically suffered a technical problem on his out lap, leaving the title challenger unable to contest his home round. Once the race did get underway it was Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Folger who got the holeshot and led the early stages ahead of Salom. Moto FGR’s Jasper Iwema was also unfortunate as he crashed out on the second lap, followed by Bradol Larresport’s wildcard Jorge Navarro.

AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin made a brave move three laps in to take the lead from Folger, taking Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Cortese with him. A lap later, JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez also started charging up the field into fourth, sticking to the back wheel of Folger until he was able to take him up the inside for third. The German was under pressure a few laps later heading into turn one and was handed down the grid further, as Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins joined the front runners.

In true Moto3 fashion the leading group, consisting of 13 riders, was changing positions frequently, with Cortese taking the lead with 14 laps left. This group thinned out to seven riders three laps on, with Rins’ teammate Oliveira and Racing Team Germany’s Luis Rossi hanging on at the back. On the same lap Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati retired with a small oil leak. Six laps before the end it was heartbreak for Khairuddin as he crashed out of the race, putting an end to the young Malaysian’s charge.

Three laps on and Vázquez’s teammate Adrian Martín crashed out at turn two, as the lead was starting to swap frequently at the front as rider started to attack for the lead. And the last lap once again proved a thriller as Cortese, Salom and Folger went fairing to fairing until almost the final turn, with Salom showing none of the effects of his big crashes in the preceding sessions.

And in the end it was the Spaniard who took the chequered flag for his second win this year ahead of Cortese and Folger. With Viñales’ retirement this now puts Cortese 51 points clear at the top of the championship, with Salmon now in second, 15 points ahead of Viñales. Fourth spot went to Cortese’s teammate Danny Kent, with Vázquez, Rins, Rossi, Estrella Galicia’s Oliveira, Red Bull’s Arthur Sissis and San Carlo Gresini Moto3’s Niccolò Antonelli rounding out the top ten.

It was a fabulous way to end probably the final 2-stroke race at a Grand Prix with, as usual, up to 14 riders in the hunt for the lead through much of the race. Pole man Hanika got a great start but the 16 year old Czech never escaped the pressure of German 16 year old Alt and Austrian 16 year old Trautmann.

Alt had come from the 3rd row of the grid after only qualifying 9th in the rain but in the perfect, sunny conditions for the 2nd race of the weekend he was soon trading places with Hanika and Trautmann at the front.

Spanish 14 year old Marcos Ramirez was also in the lead battle having come from the middle of the front row as was 16 year old Japanese Yui Watanabe from 3rd on the grid. Those 5 opened up a slight lead during the 1st half of the race but it did not last.

Livio Loi, the 15 year old Belgian who had put in a stunning ride on Saturday only to retire from a handsome lead going onto the last lap due to an electrical failure was again about to make his presence felt. Loi and 14 year old Spaniard Jorge Martin were cutting their way through the pack and joined the lead 5 for the 2nd half of the race.

Chasing them was another pack including 16 year old Dutchman Scott Deroue and German 16 year old Philipp Oettl, both in the battle with Hanika for 2nd place in the Cup points. Suddenly Oettl was right there in the lead group, certainly with a shot at the podium and even possibly the win. Then he got out of position and lost about 5 places in half a lap, that was the intensity of the struggle.

When it came to the last lap it was Hanika, Alt and Trautmann who were best placed but only just. Down the back straight Hanika made his gearing revision from Saturday work perfectly and had the lead and the line going into the last sweeping left-hander. Coming out Alt also had great drive, pulled alongside Hanika but just couldn't get ahead as the pair towed Trautmann across the stripe.

"Such a tough race and so much fun," said Hanika. "I had a good start but then Lukas and Florian caught up and we had a great battle, also Yui, she was riding great, they all were, very fair and a fun battle. The change of gearing worked for me and at the end I just had it right on the limit, absolutely everything through the last corner and I didn't know if I would hang on to win."

Alt had also made changes from Saturday when the bike was running wide. "The handling was better, it was a great battle all the way and we had a lot of fun. I really went for the win and tried everything possible to get Karel on the run to the line but couldn't, it was a fantastic race to end such a great year, thanks to everyone."

Trautmann would have liked a 2nd win but 3rd was also OK. "On the rostrum again, a great way to end the season. We changed the bike a little from yesterday but it wasn't perfect and seemed to have lost a bit down the straight. Still it was a great race from everyone, I came together with Livio once and I am sorry for that but we were all pushing so hard."

Loi was unlucky for the 2nd time in the weekend, the touch with Trautmann resulting in a bent exhaust and a 2nd retirement. A tough end to the year for the Belgian but he has shown tremendous skill and class.

While some of this year's stars eye a future in Moto3 chasing the example set by ex Rookies such as Aragon Moto3 winner Luis Salom, others, like Loi, Trautmann and Hanika, will have more chances for victories in 2013 on the new 4-stroke KTM.