It was an all Honda podium at the Brno Grand Prix in the Czech Republic today, with Casey Stoner once again at the top of the box. The Australian overcame the handling problems that hindered his performance during qualifying and practice to cruise to his sixth win of the season and increase his championship lead over Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo to 32 points.
Lorenzo chose a soft front tire for the race and was able to grab the lead off the start ahead of pole sitter Dani Pedrosa. But by lap 3 Lorenzo’s tire strategy began to noticeably backfire, allowing the Repsol Honda riders to make their way by the reigning champion. Moments later though Pedrosa crashed, handing Stoner a lead he would keep to the checkered flag. His other team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished second, 6.5 seconds back, with Gresini Honda’s Marco Simoncelli close behind in third for his first-ever premiere class podium. Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile, could only manage fourth.
“If we look at points it’s an important win, and it couldn’t work out much better. This weekend has been very, very tough and I was a little bit worried going into the race as to how competitive we’d be,” said Stoner of his victory.
“As soon as the race got underway I was having a good battle with Andrea, but this cost me a little time and I was afraid that Jorge and Dani would stretch away from me. But when I got past I found I had plenty of speed to catch up and the bike felt great.”
“I passed Jorge and then Dani sadly crashed out so I pushed to see if I could pull a gap. I put in a heck of a lot more effort and decided to lay it on the line. Once we had the break I just concentrated on consistency and brought it home.”
“Again it’s a fantastic result. This one felt good.”
“Tomorrow we’ll be back on the 1000 [next year’s 1000cc machine] for another day of testing, so I hope the weather stays dry for us!”
The next race takes place at Indianapolis, August 28.
2011 Brno MotoGP Race Results
1. Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda 43’16.796
2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda +6.532
3. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini +7.792
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing +8.513
5. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing +10.186
6. Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Marlboro +12.632
7. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro +23.037
8. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +24.189
9. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini +25.202
10. Hector Barbera ESP Mapfre Aspar +36.566
11. Toni Elias ESP LCR Honda +36.679
12. Randy de Puniet FRA Pramac Racing +37.109
13. Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing +48.911
DNF
Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki
Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing
Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda
2011 MotoGP Championship Standings
1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 218
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 186
3 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 163
4 Valentino Rossi Ducati Marlboro Team 118
5 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 110
6 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 109
7 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 103
8 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 76
9 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 75
10 Hiroshi Aoyama San Carlo Honda Gresini 70
11 Héctor Barberá Mapfre Aspar Team 62
12 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 46
13 Toni Elías LCR Honda MotoGP 43
14 Álvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 39
15 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 34
16 Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team 29
17 Randy de Puniet Pramac Racing Team 19
18 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 6
19 Kousuke Akiyoshi San Carlo Honda Gresini 3
