The best Dani Pedrosa is back and triumphs at MotoGP Sachsenring

The MotoGP race at the Sachsenring Circuit has not disappointed anyone, thrilling right to the end with two riders fighting until the penultimate corner for the final victory, but today Dani Pedrosa showed great strength on one of his favourite tracks, so a great race for the #26 who secures his first victory of the 2012 season.

Pedrosa started from third on the grid, but as he always does, he made one of his spectacular starts to take 1st place, with Casey Stoner glued to his rear wheel and Ben Spies behind them, while Jorge Lorenzo managed to gain one place but stayed behind his teammate, who was clearly blocking him in the first laps.

After that masterful start, Stoner managed to overtake the #26, who this time clearly did not want to lead as he did in Assen, but instead left the work to Stoner, at least to wear down his tyres and create more equality by the end of the race. However, with about 5 laps remaining the Catalan decided to push to the maximum after a scare from the world champion, but he could not open a gap and they stayed close until the end of the race, when the Australian, in an attempt to overtake Pedrosa, went down on the penultimate corner, while the #26 set the fastest lap of the race at Sachsenring.

For his part, Lorenzo managed to overtake his teammate, but the leaders were already Honda far away and today he could not match them. He himself commented that the Honda machines were in another galaxy on the German track, but he left happy after the 0 at Assen. This 2nd place is undoubtedly better than expected, since the #99 was resigned to 3rd place. Now, with the Australian’s fall, the Yamaha rider leads alone again, with 14 points over Pedrosa and 20 points over Stoner.

Another hot spot was the battle between the Yamaha Tech3s and Spies, as well as the group fighting for 6th place with Bradl, Rossi, Hayden, Barberá, Bautista and Crutchlow. Dovizioso and Crutchlow fought very hard, but in the end the Briton made a mistake and ended up in the gravel, rejoining the group of Bradl and the Ducatis, which Bautista reached after a spectacular comeback from last place. This group finished with Rossi 6th, Bautista 7th, Crutchlow 8th, Barberá 9th and Hayden 10th.

Closing the classification were De Puniet 11th, Edwards 12th, Espargaró 13th, Hernández 14th, Ellison 15th, Battaini 16th, Petrucci 17th and Silva 18th. The best CRT this time was the Frenchman De Puniet, while Pasini and Stoner were out after crashes, and Pirro retired with mechanical problems.

MotoGP race at the Sachsenring Circuit, now we head to Mugello where we expect more, the favourites Stoner, Pedrosa and Lorenzo will certainly put up a fight, and watch out for the Italians, who are racing at home.

Statements from Dani Pedrosa (#26) (1st):

It was a very tactical race; the key was to stay behind for a while. Normally I go in front, but today we changed that. They changed the bike a lot for today and at first I didn’t feel it as familiar. When I got the hang of it, I passed Stoner and tried to push, but he was really up for the fight today and didn’t want to let me win. I thought it would be decided on the last lap in a braking zone; I didn’t know where his strong points were, so I pushed to the maximum so as not to let him breathe, and he made a mistake. Thanks to the fans, family and mechanics, finally a new victory at last.

Statements from Jorge Lorenzo (#99) (2nd):

I’m very tired; the race was very demanding. It seemed that everything was working against us. Casey made a mistake and we managed to get some points. I would have settled for third place. I went to the maximum, but we couldn’t keep up, the Hondas were in another galaxy.

Statements from Andrea Dovizioso (#4) (3rd):

Very happy because a podium at Sachsenring is very important for the future and for the championship. I’m very pleased. Finishing third, apart from Casey’s crash, the steps we are taking forward are very important.

Photo | MotoGP Official website