The treacherous conditions today in Sepang caused the race to be cancelled with six laps remaining due to heavy tropical rain. Dani was 6.4 seconds ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Stoner was chasing him for second place when the red flag was displayed and prevented him progressing any further.
Today, Pedrosa celebrated his first victory in wet conditions, his sixth of the 2012 season and the 44th in his Grand Prix career, equalling Lorenzo and Stoner in the ranking of all time winners. It's the first time that Dani has won three races in a row in the premier class and he is the first Spanish rider ever to win in Malaysia in MotoGP. He has also beaten his record of 13 podiums in a season and continues to chase the title with two races remaining.
Stoner returned to the podium -his sixth of the season- in only his second race back after injury forced him to miss three races since Indianapolis. The 2011 World Champion was cautious and therefore unable match the pace of Dani and Jorge in the early laps, but his confidence grew and he began to find his rhythm as the race progressed and was closing the gap to Lorenzo when the race was stopped.
With today's double podium, the 7th of the season, the Repsol Honda Team have clinched the 2012 Team Championship with two races remaining.
Dani Pedrosa
"This victory is really amazing for me; it's the first time I've won in the wet in my life and I'm really, really happy. I want to thank my team and the people who helped me to get here because when I started racing in these conditions I was weak and they know how difficult it's been during all this time! Jorge set a really high pace at the beginning of the race and I remained calm to stay with him. I knew he was on a soft rear tyre and he could pull out some good laps at the start. Lap by lap I got a little more confident and I could still push and at half way in the race I overtook him and built a good gap. Some laps later the rain came down heave and it was hard to stay on the bike. I was lucky to be able to win this race, and also Jorge to finish second because he was almost on the ground. So, I'm happy for the victory, but especially happy to be able to dedicate it to Ginés, a good friend and member of the Repsol Honda Team that sadly passed away yesterday. This one is for you!"
Casey Stoner
"At the start of the race, I would have been very happy for a podium. I was considering not taking part in the rain at all as the risks were very high - if I had come off the bike again and hit my ankle, it would have been game over for the rest of the season. As the race progressed I slowly got my confidence back and I was working on different things, as I hadn't ridden in the wet in quite some time. I slowly began to catch the front two but unfortunately ran out of time as the red flagged the race. In a lot of ways I'm disappointed, but I'm happy with the points haul we took today and another podium.”
Repsol Honda Press Release
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Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/V8bO78ZBa7U/First+wet+victory+for+Pedrosa
Kent Andersson George Andrews Luigi Anelli Marcel Ankone Hans Georg Anscheidt
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