Stoner claims his second victory and 1st at Estoril

Wednesday, 09 May 2012 14:45

Written by Editor

Casey Stoner again held off Jorge Lorenzo to win in Portugal and take the lead in the MotoGP standings.

Defending champion Stoner led for the whole race and, despite Lorenzo closing to within a few bike lengths at the halfway point, the Australian was able to win his second successive race. Dani Pedrosa was third, with Andrea Dovizioso fourth ahead of British team-mate Cal Crutchlow.

The race followed a similar pattern to last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, as Stoner made a lightning start to open up a commanding lead on the opening lap.

Lorenzo was able to move up from fourth on the grid to second as Pedrosa had a scare through turn one, while Crutchlow was shuffled back from his qualifying spot of third to fifth in the opening stages. Stoner set a searing pace in the opening five laps and looked set for a big win, but as in both of the previous races this season, Lorenzo was eventually able to close to within one tenth of a second on the Australian by lap 11, but Stoner eventually opened up to win by 0.798 seconds.
Stoner now has a one-point lead over Lorenzo in the championship.

Behind the podium places, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mates Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow had disputed fourth for much of the race. Beaten by Crutchlow at the previous events, seventh on the grid Dovizioso passed the Englishman on the brakes into turn one on lap 5 and edged several seconds clear by the closing stages of his third M1 race.
Forward Racing's Colin Edwards broke his collarbone in an incident involving de Puniet on Saturday and is due to undergo surgery in Barcelona on Monday. Forward Racing's Moto2 rider Alex de Angelis has confirmed he will replace the team's injured MotoGP star Colin Edwards during Monday's test session at Estoril. de Angelis, a former MotoGP podium finisher, has ridden the Suter-BMW CRT machine once before, during a private test at the end of April.

Valentino Rossi felt that seventh place in Sunday's Portuguese MotoGP marked his and Ducati's 'current potential' and they must now work to try and raise the limit. Tenth and ninth in the opening 2012 rounds, Rossi quickly rose from ninth on the grid to seventh, a position he maintained to the chequered flag.