MotoGP News
Date: 11/November/2012
Dani Pedrosa finished the 2012
MotoGP season with the most race wins, after a mistake by Jorge Lorenzo handed
the Honda rider his seventh victory of the year at Valencia.
But Lorenzo’s error, a huge
highside crash while trying to overtake a backmarker halfway through the 30 lap
race, came too late for Pedrosa’s title challenge - Lorenzo having secured his
second MotoGP crown at the previous round in Australia.
“That was the mistake I had been
waiting for from him,” said Pedrosa, who finished the year 18 points from
Lorenzo. “But maybe it happened because the pressure was off. Anyway it’s too
late to think about the title now and I’m pleased to win the race.”
And it was no ordinary win.
Pedrosa pulled into the pits at the end of the warm-up lap, in order to make
the change from wet to slick tyres. That meant abandoning pole position and
starting the race from the end of the pit lane.
“In the last corner of the warm-up
lap I was still unsure what to do and it was just instinct to come in and
change the bike,” he said. “I started from the end of the pits with three
others and started to pick past the other guys. There was only a narrow dry
line so you had to be careful.”
Lorenzo had been one of the few
riders to correctly select slicks tyres to start the race and was leading by
lap 4. But Pedrosa was closing quickly, rising from 20th on lap one
to reach second place by 6 of 30.
“I saw Jorge up front so I
pushed to catch him, then I hit neutral
and ran off the track, losing three or four seconds. Then Jorge crashed the
next lap…”
Lorenzo was lucky to escape injury
when he was thrown high into the air. “I made a mistake by going outside of the
dry line to overtake Ellison. I thought he had seen me and would move over. It
was a big highside.”
Lorenzo’s exit left Pedrosa to
cruise to the flag. “I had a 20-second lead so then it was just a case of concentration
to the end,” he said.
A shock second place went to
Lorenzo’s temporary team-mate Katsuyuki Nakasuga, replacing the injured Ben
Spies, while Pedrosa’s team-mate Casey Stoner took third in his last MotoGP
race before retirement.
“This weekend the weather has been
terrible and I’ve been riding tense in the wet conditions,” said the double
World Champion. “I just didn't want to risk crashing and damaging my ankle
again so I was very cautious and that isn't how I like to ride.
“In the end we were able to chase
down Álvaro [Bautista] and take the last spot on the podium in our last race. I
was just trying to soak everything in on the slowdown lap. I want to take a bit
of time to enjoy life now and it’s something that I’m really looking forward
to.”
Stoner, 27, was named as an
official ‘MotoGP Legend’ shortly after the race.
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