Team Aspar

Jorge Lorenzo was crowned MotoGP World Champion for 2012 in a race in which he was mostly a spectator, watching on as Casey Stoner took a dominant sixth win at Phillip Island. Stoner’s triumph had been predictable after watching the weekend unfold, but what hadn’t been foreseen was an early crash for Dani Pedrosa on the second lap. Pedrosa and Lorenzo had got in front of poleman Stoner off the line, but things took a twist very early in. That fall for Pedrosa, when leading the race, gave the title to Lorenzo and meant that all three categories now have a new champion. Stoner crossed the line with a large advantage on his final appearance at Phillip Island.

It had been a while since the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar riders had put on a show for the fans with a head to head battle –two GPs in fact. They did it again today with a tussle that lasted almost the entirety of the 27 lap contest. Randy de Puniet had been the leading CRT at Phillip Island and had the pace to catch some of the official bikes. However, he stalled on the start and lost four positions. He caught up with teammate Aleix Espargaró on the second lap and the battle began. Aleix eventually won out, to finish tenth. De Puniet crossed the line eleventh.

10th Aleix Espargaró: “Before the flyaways we won at Aragón. I spoke with my mechanics afterwards and we agreed that if we wanted to be the best CRT, then we needed to win at least three of the last four races. At the moment we are on course for that. I am very happy and it was fun in the race. I had an exciting battle with Randy, above all on the final two laps. I tried to slipstream him on the straight a few times, but it wasn’t possible. I waited until the start of the last lap and pushed. I took a risk and it worked out. He has been very strong all weekend, so in Valencia we will have to work hard to avoid any unexpected occurrence.”

11th Randy De Puniet: "I'm a little upset, because I thought I was able to follow the official Ducati bikes. In fact, comparing the laps after the race, I saw that we were virtually identical in pace. Right at the start, when I changed from second to third gear, I noticed how the bike stood still. With this incident I lost time and positions. Then it was hard to move up positions. Gradually I tagged onto riders ahead of me, pairing up with Aleix. We exchanged a few passes and he rode well; I couldn’t force him into making a mistake. I hate to end a race like this; not because my teammate beat me, but because the race didn’t go as I would have liked and expected.”