Stoner wins and takes points lead at a soaking Silverstone

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) made light of atrocious conditions in today’s British Grand Prix to achieve his third consecutive victory and take the World Championship lead. Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode a well-judged race to make it a one-two for the Repsol Honda team. Last man on the podium was Colin Edwards (Yamaha).

Stoner gave the crowd a masterful display of inch-perfect wet-weather riding, taking the lead on lap two and never relinquishing it. Despite persistent heavy rain, blustery wind and rivers of water running across the track, Stoner never put a wheel wrong. In addition to several aquaplaning scares during the race, he struggled during the early laps to see where he was going because water had got inside his visor while he was behind Dovizioso on lap one. His other issue was keeping the tyres warm – whenever he eased his pace the tyres cooled and lost some grip, so he had to stay on the limit throughout.

By half distance Stoner was 5.7s ahead of his team-mate. With three laps to go he started lapping other riders – a very rare event in MotoGP – and by the time the chequered flag came out he was 15s in front of Dovizioso.

This was the Australian’s fourth win from the first six races of 2011 and the success moved him into the World Championship lead, 18 points ahead of reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who crashed out of third place just before halfway.

Dovizioso started brilliantly to lead the first lap, then after Stoner came past he had his hands full as he battled with Lorenzo and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), who had both qualified on the front row alongside pole-sitter Stoner. Dovizioso then found himself all alone after Lorenzo fell and then Simoncelli, the Italian tumbling as he braked for the first turn at the start of lap 11. Simoncelli was a victim of the deep standing water at various parts of the track which caused many a scare during the 20 laps. From that point on Dovizioso was able to control his position to take his second podium result of 2011.

This was Stoner and Dovizioso’s second one-two of 2011, following their identical performance at last month’s French GP.
The rain was good news for Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP RC212V) who has struggled in the dry so far this year but was able to score his best result of in eighth place, just four tenths of a second ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V).

MotoGP rider quotes

Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: race winner
“At the beginning of the race we didn’t have a great start and I needed to wait for the tyres to get up to temperature. In the first few laps when I was behind the other riders I got a lot of spray up inside the visor and it was hard for me to see, or for me to push. At this time I was being careful, trying to cover my lines to stop them coming inside, then after five laps my visibility got clearer and the water drained away from my visor and I was able to start doing the lap times we were looking for and started to open a gap. I was just happy to stay up on the bike, it was incredibly cold and I was so nervous, because in these conditions it’s so easy to crash! We had a great race today in very tough conditions where anything could have happened, but to come away with a win is fantastic.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 2nd
“I’m really happy with today’s podium. It’s a second place that feels like gold. The track conditions were very tricky, with much more water than in warm-up this morning. We made a modification on the set-up to have more rear grip and then we did a very good strategy. It helped us doing two sighting laps before the race to bring the tyres up to temperature quicker. I had a very good start and then I was focused to manage the second position with Casey. I was braking very hard to close the door to Lorenzo and Simoncelli. I had a good rhythm, not too far from Casey’s pace, but he is very strong with these conditions so I preferred to manage my race the best I could. I want to thank my team for the hard work and the support. We need to improve the performance also in qualifying, but at the important moment, in the race, we are there. We never give up. With today’s second place we have consolidated third position in the championship and reduced the gap to Lorenzo. The season is still long so I’m confident.”

Toni Elias, LCR Honda MotoGP: 8th
“I am quite happy as I was hoping for a wet race to finish in the top ten. I could not have finished in the same position in the dry as we are still struggling with bike set-up. Anyway this is a positive weekend for me and the team because we have scored further points. I knew I could fight for a better position battling with Rossi and Abraham, but after some laps I had problems with my helmet: the visibility was not clear and a couple of times I had to open the visor. I think I took a brave start from 14th spot but I went wide in the first corner: luckily I was capable to rejoin the track proceeding with my race.”

Hiroshi Aoyama, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 9th
“It was difficult to get a feeling for the bike in the wet conditions in morning warm-up, but as the laps went by in the race I felt more and more comfortable. The end result isn’t particularly satisfying, but we got good experience on a wet track that will help us find a good set-up in the future. Hopefully we can do better next time out.”

Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini: DNF
“I am completely distraught because it seems every week we line up ready for a top race and something happens to deny me. I had already had a moment in that corner so I tried to be more careful, but the front closed and I found myself on the floor waving goodbye to the podium once again. I am gutted! I’ll go home with my head down now, but tomorrow I have to start looking forward to Assen with the hope that this bad run is over.”

Pole position : 2m02.020s (174.128Km/h) casey Stoner, Honda, 2011
Fastest lap : Lap 17 - 2m21.432s (150.229Km/h) Nicky Hayden, Ducati
Circuit record lap : 2m03.526s (172.005Km/h) Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha, 2010
Circuit Best Lap : 2m02.020s (174.128Km/h) casey Stoner, Honda, 2011