01. October 2012
Page Content
The Spanish GP didn’t provide any top-of-the-podium finishes for racers using Akrapovič exhaust systems, but they did enjoy a good number of high-ranking results, remaining at the top of the overall count for individual classes.
In the fourteenth round of the MotoGP world championship the overall point leader, Jorge Lorenzo, had the fastest lap in the qualifiers and so he started the race in pole position. He managed to hold the lead until the sixth lap, when he had to yield to Dani Pedrosa. Jorge crossed the finish line second to occupy the second step on the podium for the seventh time in the 2012 season. His teammate Ben Spies got off to a very good start from fourth position and was riding third for some time, but crossed the finish line in fifth place—for the third time this year.
“I was thinking to try for the win at the beginning of the race, and if that wasn’t possible then second place was the best possible result for the championship,” commented Jorge on the outcome. “Dani had a better pace in the end, I was stronger at the start, then little by little I was a bit slower, the tires were slipping a lot, and I couldn’t follow him. I nearly crashed in one corner and decided then to stay in second place and wait for the end of the race.”
The exceptionally exciting race in the Moto2 class, in which six racers fought for the lead with less than three seconds separating them at the finish line, yielded two podium finishes for Akrapovič: Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) took second, and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) third. The Moto3 class also failed to yield a victory for the red scorpion, but delivered a second-place finish with Sandro Cortese (Red Bull KTM Ajo) only 0.155 seconds behind the winner.
A look at the overall results four races before the end of the season remains outstanding: Lorenzo is leading in the MotoGP with a 33-point advantage over Pedrosa, Márquez has a 48-point lead over Espargaró, and Cortese is 51 points ahead of Salom. Let’s hope things stay like this until the finale in Valencia!
Photo: Yamaha Racing, 2012 Micro Lazzari, Marc VDS Racing Team, Gold and Goose