Results, notes and quotes from MotoGP Rnd 13 at Aragon

The inaugural Aragon Grand Prix was a disappointing affair for the Fiat Yamaha Team today, with Jorge Lorenzo losing out in a last lap battle and finishing off the podium for the first time this season and Valentino Rossi coming home in sixth. It brought to an end an impressive run of 47 consecutive podiums for Yamaha, with the Factory having had at least one of its riders on the podium at every race since Valencia 2007 until today.

Championship leader Lorenzo got a good start from second on the grid but it was soon clear that he lacked the pace to stay with eventual winner Casey Stoner as the Australian quickly began to open out a gap, while the Yamaha man came under pressure from compatriot Dani Pedrosa behind. On lap three Pedrosa passed the Mallorcan and, hampered by a lack of grip, Lorenzo was unable to run with him and spent most of the remainder of the race in third, just ahead of Nicky Hayden. He did everything he could to hold onto the final podium spot but a determined Hayden mounted a strong last-lap challenge and Lorenzo, not wanting to put his championship lead in jeopardy with too many risky moves, was powerless to keep the American from passing him on the final part of the track and missed out at the line by less than a tenth of a second.

Rossi’s problems were evident all weekend, as his shoulder issues meant he unable to run the best set-up for this track. He had hoped he might be able to improve a little under race conditions but it was not to be, dropping to ninth at one point before clawing back to his starting position of seventh by passing Hector Barbera and then fellow Italian Marco Simoncelli. A last-lap crash from Andrea Dovizioso elevated him to sixth but it was a disheartening weekend for the nine-time World Champion and his crew.

Despite today’s result Lorenzo’s championship lead still stands at a healthy 56 points from Dani Pedrosa, with five rounds remaining. Rossi is still in fourth, one point ahead of Dovizioso and 15 behind Stoner. The next round comes in two weeks in Japan, the first of three consecutive race weekends in the Far East and Australia.

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 4 Time: +9.580
“My start was very good, but during the race I struggled a lot with Nicky always behind me, very close! We can’t be happy with the result and I am disappointed to finish my podium run, but the most important thing is that we did finish and we still took points for our championship. We have five more races to go and, although this is a complicated moment for us and we have some things to address, I am confident that we can improve again. Now we go to Motegi and I am looking forward to a good result at the home of Yamaha.”

Valentino Rossi – Position: 6 Time: +27.330
“This was a very difficult race for us; we had a lot of problems all weekend and I was very slow today. I had to try to arrive to the end but I couldn’t do better than sixth. All the Yamahas have suffered here but my shoulder problems made it even worse for me and this, combined with the problems with our package at this track, made it extra hard. We’re very sad this afternoon and we hope for better in Japan.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“Over the last couple of races we have struggled a bit to keep up with some of our rivals, so we were quite worried about this race and today wasn’t great for us. We’re at a point in the championship when we can’t afford to take risks but there are other riders who have nothing to lose, and this was the story today. Jorge didn’t have enough grip and in those last few laps he didn’t have the confidence in the front to push hard and get away from Nicky, who clearly had a good feeling here. Finishing off the podium for the first time we’re obviously disappointed, especially because he had to push to even finish fourth! It’s definitely time to make a change so we will think hard about Motegi, which is luckily a track which Jorge likes and where the Yamaha goes well.”

Jeremy Burgess – Crew Chief
“We ran into troubles from the start here and unfortunately we couldn’t find a way to put a competitive package together. Valentino’s shoulder is causing him problems too and this, together with the set-up issues, meant we couldn’t finish any higher up the order today. We’re disappointed but we have some ideas and we hope for a better weekend in Japan.”

Heroic Spies storms to fifth at Motorland Aragon

Ben Spies produced arguably the best MotoGP performance of his blossoming career at the spectacular Motorland Aragon tack this afternoon, the Texan winning an epic battle with Andrea Dovizioso to finish in fifth place.

Spies was in scintillating form throughout the 23-lap race that was played out in front of a partisan home crowd of just over 70,000 Spanish fans at the challenging 5.078km circuit.

A fast start saw Spies pounce on an early mistake by Dani Pedrosa to snatch fourth on the opening lap before he settled into fifth place, the reigning World Superbike champion looking threatening behind Nicky Hayden and Jorge Lorenzo as they tussled for third spot.

Spies had brilliantly hunted down Hayden and Lorenzo but just when he looked like hauling himself into a tense battle for third, a small mistake and a loss of rear grip cost him precious time.

He slipped back into the clutches of Dovizioso and what followed was a pulsating final ten laps that saw Spies produce some inspired riding on board his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine.

Spies was riding at his brilliant best to keep Dovizioso at bay, the 26-year-old frequently able to produce stunning late braking moves to deny the tenacious Italian, who had a clear top speed advantage on the long Motorland Aragon straights.

Spies lost fifth place on the penultimate lap, only to engineer yet another awesome overtake to the position back at the first corner on the final lap. With both refusing to give an in ch, Spies’ super human effort was rewarded, his pace and determination pushing Dovizioso into a mistake on the final lap. Today’s fifth was Spies’ ninth top six finish of a stunning rookie campaign and he remains firmly in contention for a top three overall finish in the standings on 131-points.

Today’s race didn’t go according to plan for Colin Edwards, the American making a poor getaway off the line before struggling to find his rhythm in the opening half of the race.

The 36-year-old passed Hiroshi Aoyama on lap eight and Mika Kallio three laps later to finish in 12th position, a result which keeps him firmly in the hunt for eighth place in the points standings.

Ben Spies – Position: 5thTime: +13.771
“That was a really good race. I like racing like that and I told my crew that even if I’d finished sixth it would have been the funniest race of the year for me. Dovi and me started going at it with four laps to go and it was fun. I wish it didn’t end with him crashing and I’m sure he’s mad he fell down but we were having a blast. We kept it clean and close and he just made a small mistake on the last lap. I must admit I wasn’t too far away from making one myself because it was getting pretty hectic. On the last lap I got him at turn one and then he got me back at turn eight. Going into turn 11 I passed him but got in deep and when we went back to turn 12 I was ahead of him but I didn’t have the right line. So he had to go around me but unfortunately he fell and that’s a shame because he rode great. I did too and for a while I was pulling back Nicky and Jorge but fifth is still a great result. I wasn’t far behind Jorge and I beat Valentino and I was the top non-factory rider again. And the points are good for my championship, so I’m looking forward to this big final run of races with a lot of confidence.”

Colin Edwards – Position: 12th Time: +45.360
“It wasn’t a good race at all and it’s a strange feeling because I really like the track. But for whatever reason I’m just not fast enough and I haven’t figured it out yet. I made a terrible start and that put me on the back foot immediately but in the first few laps I couldn’t get into my normal rhythm. And when I was trying to make up some time I just made a few silly mistakes here and there and it felt like I’d never done a lap here before. Once I got into a rhythm my pace wasn’t too bad but I’d lost way too much time in the first ten laps. I ran the softer front tyre but I don’t think that had anything to do with it. I was more comfortable on the soft front all weekend because I couldn’t get the hard option to turn. It was a bit hotter today but I can’t blame that and truthfully I just wasn’t fast enough all weekend.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager
“I am almost lost for words to describe the way Ben rode today. It wasn’t his best result of the season but it is certainly one of the best feelings because he rode an incredible race. He was pushing on the limit for the whole race and to beat Dovizioso was really impressive. I think it was a fight that the fans really enjoyed. It was clear Andrea had a little bit of an advantage on top speed but some of Ben’s braking moves were phenomenal and he was very brave. I am very happy with Ben and he is getting better and better and this race from him was stunning. He never gave up and showed unbelievable fighting spirit. It was a difficult afternoon for Colin. He didn’t make a good start and he couldn’t find a fast rhythm in the first laps and by the time he found a decent pace he had too much to recover. He carried on giving his maximum but it was still a positive week end at the fantastic Motorland Aragon. This is a great venue for MotoGP racing and the paddock has been given a wonderful welcome. We are already looking forward to coming back next season.”

—  Ducati Report

The Ducati Marlboro Team celebrated victory and a podium double today as Casey Stoner took his first win and Nicky Hayden his first rostrum of the 2010 season. Stoner’s victory came from pole position and was hard earned after overcoming an early battle with Jorge Lorenzo on the first lap and pressure from Dani Pedrosa over the remainder of the race. The Australian was able to manage a gap of around one second throughout over the Spaniard, who finally gave best over the closing laps and crossed the line over five seconds adrift.

Nicky Hayden gave chase to the leaders over the opening laps and stuck doggedly to the tail of Lorenzo to set up a thrilling finale. A perfectly timed pass onto the back straight gave the Spaniard little opportunity to respond as they charged to the final corner, sealing Hayden’s first top-three finish since Indianapolis last year and the team’s first podium double since 2007. After both making crucial changes to their Desmosedici GP10 machines this weekend, Stoner and Hayden are hopeful they can carry this form through to the final five races of the season.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st
“This win is a big relief, to be honest! We had the first race in Qatar wrapped up until I made a mistake and their have been other opportunities to win this year that I have missed out on through my own errors. We have had a lot of problems trying to find the final two or three tenths to run with Dani and Jorge this season but we changed the bike completely this weekend to adjust my position on it and got it working almost how we want it to. I had a little slip off in warm-up this morning which was a worry going into the race. I was staying away from every white line that I could over the first few laps but we were able to pick up the pace when we needed to and bring home a win. I want to thank the team, the factory and everybody who has stuck by me – I’m just sorry it took so long!”

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd
“It feels great to be back on the podium and I really enjoyed myself today. The bike has been working really well all weekend and in the race I was able to get a good start and stay with Jorge. There wasn’t really anywhere I could get a wheel in and over the last couple of laps he pushed hard to get away but I decided that fourth wasn’t good enough for me today. I did a bit of a backyard move in the chicane over there and managed to hold him off to the line. It’s nice to be on the podium, it has been a really good weekend for us and for the team, the sponsors and the supporters I’m glad we could be up here today. We’ll try to do it again a few more times before the season’s over!”

VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team manager
“I am really happy for Casey, Nicky and all the team because today is payback for all their hard work. They have never backed off, even in the difficult moments. We came to a track that nobody had been to before but our bike worked well from the start. Both Nicky and Casey were fast in all conditions and today they produced a fantastic performance. Casey pushed very hard from the start to the finish but he always had the situation under control and even when he made a little mistake he recovered strongly and lap after lap he established an insurmountable lead over Dani. He really was brilliant today. Nicky was also fantastic because he kept up a strong pace throughout the race and never gave Lorenzo the chance to escape. He fought with him right to the end and came out with a podium. Congratulations to everybody but now we have to keep working as hard as ever to make sure we finish the season strongly.”

—  HRC Report

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) scored a hard-ridden second place in today’s inaugural Aragon Grand Prix to take another bite out of Jorge Lorenzo’s World Championship points advantage. With five races remaining, Pedrosa sits 56 points behind his fellow Spaniard who finished fourth today.

The race was won by Casey Stoner (Ducati), his first win of the season. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) fought with all his might to snatch fifth place from Ben Spies (Yamaha), only to fall on the last lap. Honda’s second finisher was Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) who came home in seventh place, just behind reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha).

Pedrosa got a great start from the front row of the grid, but got sideways in the first corner, which lost him crucial time. Fourth at the end of the first lap, he quickly used his RC212V’s impressive straight-line performance to fight his way past third-place finisher Nicky Hayden
(Ducati) and Lorenzo to move into second place on lap three. By then Stoner was already 1.5 seconds ahead, but nearing half-distance, Pedrosa upped his game and closed to within eight tenths of the lead. However, Stoner responded to the pressure, the gap growing and shrinking over the next few laps as the pair battled for the advantage. Finally, Pedrosa realised he would have to risk too much to mount a serious attack and eased off to ensure second place and 20 points. Following his wins at Indianapolis and Misano, this is the third race in a row that Pedrosa outscored Lorenzo.

Dovizioso enjoyed his duel with Spies, the pair swapping places several times on the penultimate lap. On the final lap Dovizioso attempted to get the better of his American rival in the turn 12/13 esses but was highsided from his RCV.

Simoncelli didn’t get the start he had been hoping for and yet he was able to run a very similar pace to Spies and Dovizioso during the early stages of the race. Then a couple of mistakes dropped him into the hands of Rossi. At one stage the rookie wanted to mount a counter attack, but once again he made a minor error that forced him to accept seventh place. Simoncelli was nevertheless happy with his weekend because he learned plenty.

Team-mate Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) was less satisfied, struggling all weekend to get the best out of his RC212V. In the race he had some front-end push issues in the early laps. Later he worked himself into a good rhythm but was unable to get past the riders ahead of him eventually finishing the race in ninth.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) was in the thick of a busy contest for ninth contest for ninth place when he suffered a highside fall at turn seven on lap 16. Until then the Frenchman had been enjoying the ride – this is the first weekend since he broke a leg in July’s German GP that he has felt really comfortable on a bike – although he was having some issues with front grip.

Three months after his Silverstone tumble which left him with a broken vertebra, Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) finished 13th at Aragon today. The Japanese is still working to regain full fitness, but he was disappointed with his ride which saw him stuck behind Mika Kallio (Ducati) for much of the race.

Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) scored another runaway win in the Honda-powered Moto2 series, breaking away from the pack just like he did at Mugello and Assen. At one point the Italian was more than ten seconds ahead of the contest for second place, easing his pace during the final laps to cross the finish line 6.2 seconds ahead of Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter), who just edged out Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) for the runner-up spot. This was Simon’s third consecutive second-place finish.

Iannone rode his victory lap holding aloft a special flag to commemorate Shoya Tomizawa, the Moto2 ace who died following an accident at Misano two weeks ago. Other riders in all three classes here bore mementos of the popular Japanese rider on their bikes, leathers or helmets. A minute’s silence was held for Tomizawa following this morning’s warm-up sessions.

Iannone led from pole position, getting into turn one first and then steadily increasing his advantage, usually by a few tenths a lap, but by bigger margins later in the race, which suggests that his team has fixed the tyre-wear issues which had troubled him at some other races.

Simon spent much of the race in second place, only briefly losing the position to Simone Corsi (JIR Moto2, Motobi) and then successfully defending his position from Talmacsi during the final laps.

World Championship leader Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) made a heroic charge through the pack from his third-row start, a legacy of a tumble during qualifying. The Spaniard, who had won the previous four races, ended the first lap in 14th and fought his way through to fourth, just eight tenths behind Talmacsi. Corsi finished fifth, well clear of Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP, Suter). Front-row starter Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team, Suter) was eighth.

Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) rode a great 125 race, coming through from 19th on the grid to claim three World Championship points for 13th place. The German teenager got as high as tenth place at one point of the race, but was nevertheless happy with 13th and his first points since Brno. the race was won by Pol Espargaro (Derbi) who beat Nicolas Terol (Aprilia) at the final corner.

The MotoGP circus once again leaves Europe after this race, heading east for three races on consecutive weekends in Japan (October 3), Malaysia (October 10) and Australia (October 17). The season finishes back on the Continent with the Portuguese GP (October 31) and the Valencia GP (on November 7).

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd – “I’m pretty happy with second place today even though of course I wanted to win in front of the Spanish fans. In the first corner I had a slide which lost me a couple of places and then over the next few laps I had to make up some positions before getting behind Casey. By this point he was quite a way in front and our pace was similar at this stage so I tried really hard to catch him and managed to close the gap. But then I started to have some rear-wheel slides and it wasn’t possible for me stay with him so I thought: ‘Ok, this is my place today.’ Our bike here was struggling more with tyre wear than some of the others, but anyway, second place is not bad and the championship is still alive, even though it will be very difficult to catch Lorenzo. I’d like to say thanks to my team who are working really hard, and I want to maintain this momentum because recently we have been fast at every race.
I’m looking forward to Honda’s home event at Motegi.”

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 7th “At the start I was hoping for a better result because I felt good but I have to be satisfied with seventh place. I was running with Spies and Dovizioso over the first seven laps but when I lost touch with them I made a couple of mistakes. Once Valentino came past I started to ride well again and even tried to attack him but made another mistake. After that there wasn’t much else I could do. Overall it has been a positive weekend and we have taken a step forward compared to other races.”

Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 9th “It has been a bad weekend for us and the race didn’t go any better. Unfortunately over the first few laps the bike was unpredictable and the front kept pushing. Even when I put together a pace that was faster than the guys in front of me there was no way I could pass them. I haven’t made a pass on the brakes since the start of the season – I can only overtake in direction changes and that shows something is wrong because I have always been a late braker but right now I’m not.
I am really disappointed because things are not improving and we need a little help from Honda because I can’t do anything on my own.”

Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V): 13th “As you may understand I am not really happy about my 13th position. My rhythm was good when I was riding alone. At the beginning I lost a lot of time and I could have been faster if I could have overtaken Kallio earlier. I tried it in each corner, but couldn’t. When I finally passed him, because he made a mistake, it was too late to better the result and I am very angry about that.”

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): DNF “Of course I’m really disappointed things ended in this way because my pace in the middle of the race was very good and the battle with Spies was exciting. The crash happened between turns 12 and 13. Spies went in too deep and I tried to overtake him on the inside. That meant I was carrying a little bit more speed through the change of direction and as I flicked from left to right I highsided. I’m really disappointed because we have lost third position in the championship, which is still our target even though scoring zero points today makes this more difficult. Early in the race I made some mistakes and lost contact with the front group, but actually our pace in the middle of the race was very fast. During the battle with Spies we overtook each other three or four times in the last laps and it was fun, but the crash spoiled the day. However, we’ll come back fighting at Motegi because we’ve proved we have the pace to be strong.”

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): DNF
“There was a good group of us, so it was quite a hectic race for me. I didn’t feel too confident in the front end of the bike and then I started to lose the front a few times. I was trying to ride around that when the bike flicked me off. We still aren’t sure why that happened.”

MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES
Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): race winner “It’s been a great day, but in no way was it easy or simple to me. After my injury in practice at Indianapolis I suffered a lot in the race at Indy and again at Misano, so it was great to feel strong again this weekend. I stayed on top in every practice and today’s win repays the team for all the hard work the team has done in fixing problems. Congratulations also to my team-mate Gabor, I hope that we can keep this run of results going.”

Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter): 2nd “It’s very special to make the podium in Spain, especially at a new Spanish circuit. I’m very happy because it’s been a good weekend. I have been up the front all three days, just like I was at Indy and Misano, so I have been very regular at the last three races. This makes me very motivated for Japan, Malaysia and Australia. Of course, now I want to win a Moto2 race after being second at the last three. Today I got a good start and tried to go with Iannone, but his rhythm was too fast. I would like to dedicate this podium to Tomizawa.”

Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): 3rd “We have been trying very hard all season, but to begin with I didn’t have the same feeling with the bike that Andrea has. But we never gave up and we always kept trying, so this first Moto2 podium is a big reward for that. During this second part of the season me and the team understand each other better, so the bike is coming better and I hope we can continue like this during the last few races.”

—  Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki racer Álvaro Bautista secured his third successive eighth place finish today after a battling performance at Aragon in Spain.
Bautista got a good start from 12th on the grid, but was blocked at the first corner and couldn’t capitalise on it to make up as many places as he wanted. He immediately got involved in a five rider fight, which saw the 25-year-old Spaniard battling for a top-six finish. He first had to deal with Frenchman Randy De Puniet and Bautista passed him on the seventh lap as he then chased after the riders in front – who had by now made a bit of a gap. Bautista caught fellow countryman Hector Barbera, but was unable to match him for speed down the long back-straight at Aragon. On the final lap Bautista passed Barbera, but was then put under immediate pressure from behind by Marco Melandri. The Suzuki man kept his head and protected his lines through the final turns to score a hard-fought, but well deserved eighth at the flag.
Today’s inaugural Motorland Aragon Grand Prix attracted 70,124 enthusiastic and excited fans; they enjoyed unbroken sunshine all-day and saw former World Champion Casey Stoner win his – and Ducati’s – first Grand Prix of the season. World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth.

Rizla Suzuki and the rest of the MotoGP paddock now embark on a three–week Far East tour taking in Japan, Malaysia and Australia in consecutive weekends. The first of the trio will be at Motegi in Japan on Sunday 3rd October, when Rizla Suzuki look to welcome back Loris Capirossi from injury to partner Bautista at Suzuki’s home Grand Prix.

Álvaro Bautista: “I had some great battles out there with De Puniet, Barbera and some other riders and I really had fun during the race. At the beginning I had a bit of a problem when I was braking and I felt a lot of moving in the front, so I couldn’t keep up my speed entering the corners. I wasn’t able to push how I wanted, but luckily after a few laps the bike started to work how I wanted it to – it was much more like the bike I had in qualifying so I was able to find a good rhythm. In the middle of the race the performance started to deteriorate and it was getting very difficult to follow Barbera on the fast back straight. This made it very difficult to overtake him and if I did manage he immediately came back past on that straight, so that made me lose more time on the guys in front and the riders behind started to catch us. I had to fight right until the last corner on the last lap to keep eighth place once I’d got past Barbera, I was forced to close every line and in the very last turn Melandri tried to come past but I was able to block him. Today the bike was probably not perfect because the tyres started to slide from the middle of the race onwards. I fought as hard as I could and eighth is not a bad result, but I certainly think we can do better.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager: “Álvaro’s pace today compared to the top-six group was a little bit further away than at Misano two weeks ago. Maybe the race-day setting wasn’t quite as good as then, but most importantly he toughed it out and fought with all his heart to make sure that he finished at the front of the group of riders he was with, for another solid eighth place. As Álvaro keeps finishing races in more competitive positions his confidence will grow and as he pushes harder the team’s understanding of what he needs and his experience, grow together.

“We’ve high hopes for Álvaro, Loris and the GSV-R’s performance in both Japan and Malaysia and we will pack up tonight for the fly-aways in good spirits – we’ll certainly be looking to end the season in a lot more positive way than it started.”

—  Bridgestone Report

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Extra Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner finished a strong weekend with a decisive victory at Motorland Aragon, resisting an early challenge from Jorge Lorenzo to run away from the pack and finish over five seconds clear of Dani Pedrosa.

Pedrosa chased Stoner throughout, setting the fastest lap in the process, and at one point the gap was just 0.8 seconds, but ultimately the Australian’s pace was too strong. Completing a return to form for the Ducati Team, Nicky Hayden snatched third position from Jorge Lorenzo on the final lap having trailed the championship leader for most of the race. The result is Hayden’s second premier class podium finish on Bridgestone tyres, the first being at Indianapolis last season.

Every rider used the harder option rear for its improved consistency over race distance, especially as the track temperature reached its highest of the weekend, and the harder front slick was also preferred by all riders except Alvaro Bautista, Colin Edwards and Mika Kallio who used the softer option. Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista demonstrated the performance of Bridgestone’s softer front slick with an excellent ride to eighth place, at the head of a four-rider group who all crossed the line split by less than 0.3seconds.

Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department
“Congratulations to Casey and Ducati for their win, and also to Nicky for a hard-fought and well deserved podium. It was good to see an exciting race at this new venue, which has proved itself to be world class this weekend. Even for the first GP here there were over 70,000 spectators on race day which is a good sign of how strong the sport is in Europe especially. At this point in the season Dani and Casey are looking particularly strong and the result of the last few races has closed the championship standings a little as we head into the final five races in six weeks.”

Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“Today the conditions were the warmest of the weekend and after the 125cc and Moto2 races the track was much cleaner, both of which helped the performance of the harder rear tyre. Race pace was reasonably consistent, and the fastest lap was just 0.6seconds from yesterday’s pole time, set by Casey on a grippier softer option rear slick, so this illustrates that conditions were better today. Overall, I’m happy about our tyre compound choice for this new circuit.”

Casey Stoner – Ducati Team – Race Winner
“It’s a big relief to be honest! It’s been too long between wins. All weekend has gone more or less ok, and we tried something totally different and changed the bike completely and had a much better feeling with the front end. The track got better with more rubber and we got better and better. I tried to stay consistent and smooth to keep the tyres as good as possible until the end. For the team and everyone who’s stuck by me, sorry it took so long.”

Andrea Iannone took his third win of 2010 in the Moto2 World Championship at Aragón on Sunday with another dominant performance, securing victory from pole position by a margin of 6.203s over second placed Julián Simón. Iannone’s Fimmco Speed Up teammate Gabor Talmacsi completed the podium with championship leader Toni Elías fourth.

The leading quartet managed to avoid a crash at turn one, which was started by Fonsi Nieto, who also collected Alex Baldolini, Mattia Pasini, Ricky Cardús and Yonny Hernández on his way to the gravel trap. All the riders involved were uninjured.

Just as he’d done to take his first win of the season in Mugello, Iannone got away at the front and immediately set about building an insurmountable gap back to his pursuers.

Alex de Angelis was running towards the front when he suffered the disappointment of crashing out having started from the front row, and it was left to Simón, Simone Corsi and Talmacsi to begin the battle for the final two podium spots.

Jules Cluzel and Scott Redding were part of a chasing pack, which Dominique Aegerter later joined, whilst championship leader Elías overcame a difficult grid position of 12th to rise to fifth by the midway point of the race.

All the while at the front Iannone was riding a comfortable race with a solid lead, which stood at as much as eight seconds towards the closing stages. The Italian eventually repeated his wins from pole that came at Mugello and Assen, with Simón holding off Talmacsi’s challenge. It was the Mapfre Aspar rider’s third consecutive second place finish, with Talmacsi taking a well-deserved first podium of the season.

Elías completed an impressive recovery from the third row to end fourth, coming close to catching the final podium spot, with Corsi, Cluzel, Aegerter, Redding and Stefan Bradl following him across the line. Another impressive ride in 10th came from Thomas Lüthi who overcame a difficult qualification position of 20th to again score points.

There was bitter disappointment for British wild card Kev Coghlan however who had enjoyed a good weekend, qualifying in 13th. The Scottish rider suffered mechanical issues that meant he started from Pit Lane and he was later forced to retire from the race.

Elías remains at the top of the standings and is now on 224 points, 76 ahead of Simón who retains second place. Iannone moves into third and is now four points off Simón, with Lüthi fourth and Corsi fifth.

World Championship Positions: 1 ELIAS 224, 2 SIMON 148, 3 IANNONE 144, 4 LUTHI 130, 5 CORSI 108, 6 TALMACSI 95, 7 CLUZEL 94, 8 TOMIZAWA 82, 9 TAKAHASHI 76, 10 GADEA 59, 11 REDDING 47, 12 DEBON 46, 13 AEGERTER 45, 14 ROLFO 43, 15 BRADL 43.

Pol Espargaró took his third win of the season at Aragón on Sunday with a masterful ride that climaxed in a final-lap fight with Nico Terol, who finished the race second and moved to the top of the championship after a highly dramatic 125cc contest.

There was a huge development not just in the race but also the championship at the very start when Randy Krummenacher crashed at turn one on the opening lap and took Marc Márquez down with him. The Swiss rider was able to remount his bike but Márquez, the championship leader going into the race, was not and suffered his first DNF since the second round at Jerez. Krummenacher was later black flagged for the incident.

That left the trio of Espargaró, Terol and Bradley Smith to contend for the podium positions as they pulled away from the remainder of the field, and the two Spaniards slowly began to open up a gap on the Briton.

Espargaró and Terol engaged in an intriguing scrap that saw the pair swap the lead on a number of occasions throughout, as they attempted to outwit one another. At one stage Terol appeared to be pulling away but his rival responded and kept a close check on him going into the final lap.

It was then that Espargaró made a daring bid for victory, going round the outside of Terol and assuming the lead which he held to cross the finish line just 0.050s ahead of the Bancaja Aspar rider, whose team-mate Bradley Smith rode to a lonely third place at 9.410s further back for his third podium of the campaign – his first since Catalunya.

Efrén Vázquez came in fourth at just over 6.5s back, with Sandro Cortese and Tomoyoshi Koyama completing the top six. Esteve Rabat edged Jonas Folger for seventh place by just over a tenth of a second, with Danny Webb and Luis Salom scoring top-ten finishes.

The repercussions of the race result for the championship were that Terol now leads on 208 points, with Espargaró moving into second on 202 whilst Márquez drops to third and remains on 197.

World Championship Positions:
1 TEROL 208, 2 ESPARGARO 202, 3 MARQUEZ 197, 4 SMITH 144, 5 CORTESE 118, 6 VAZQUEZ 110, 7 RABAT 108, 8 KOYAMA 102, 9 KRUMMENACHER 79, 10 WEBB 71, 11 ZARCO 66, 12 FOLGER 56, 13 MONCAYO 40, 14 IWEMA 33, 15 SALOM 31.