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MotoGP: Superb win for Dani Pedrosa in Indianapolis

The Repsol Honda Team has completed the second American race of the season with another fantastic performance, this time at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Japanese manufacturer has now won the past five races in the United States.

Dani Pedrosa took a full house in Indy - pole position, circuit record lap and win - in an incredible weekend that marks his second victory of the 2012 season. It is also his second win at this track and 40th career victory in the World Championship in all three classes. Dani crossed the finish line 10.8 seconds ahead of Lorenzo and Repsol Honda team mate Casey Stoner celebrated, considering his physical condition, a formidable fourth position.

The current World Champion overcame incredible pain caused by his injury to the right ankle sustained during yesterday's qualifying session crash. He managed to climb to third position behind Dani and Jorge until six laps remaining when his stamina began to fade and he was passed by Andrea Dovizioso on lap 22.

Dani celebrates his longest sequence of successive podiums in the MotoGP class with seven podiums in a row and reduces the gap of Jorge's championship lead to 18 points. Casey maintains third position in the standings with 186 points, 21 points off Dani.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: Race winner
“I'm extremely happy with this win and I really want to congratulate the whole team for the great job they've done this weekend. The bike worked perfectly. It was difficult at the beginning of the race, because the pace was very strong from the start. I got past Ben Spies, but I kept calm because I knew I had the pace today to fight for the victory. When I took the lead, I put in some very strong laps to build up a gap and then I made a mistake in turn 2 going into neutral and Jorge (Lorenzo) reduced the gap by one second. But I was able to get back on my pace and ride comfortably to the end, where I think Jorge struggled a little with the soft rear tyre. We managed to take our second win of the season and every point is important. I want to also congratulate Casey (Stoner) for his result; he did a superb race in his condition and I am sure he will be strong again in Brno.”

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory: 2nd place
“We thought that the soft tyre could finish the race well so we took a risk with it. At the beginning it wasn’t so bad and I could follow Ben and Dani. Then Ben had his engine failure which was lucky for my position but I am so sorry for him. Dani was a little step forward today and had a tyre advantage in the end. Anyway, second was the best we could do today which is very good for the Championship.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Yamaha Tech3: 3rd
“This podium is once again confirmation of our great work as a team and I am really proud of the support I get from all my crew in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. For us a podium is always like a victory and of course I'm really happy but I think we still can do better. But honestly I didn't expect to be so strong at this track. Unfortunately I could not push as hard as I would have liked to at the beginning of the race, so I lost a bit of time and could not stay with the leading group. And afterwards when Ben broke the engine I did half of the straight trying to see through the smoke and I was not sure if there was oil on my tyres, so I lost some important tenths. Maybe the position could not have been better but for sure the gap would have been less to Dani and Jorge. I'm not completely satisfied because I wasn't as consistent as I'd hoped, but to be on the podium is a great feeling and a good reward for all our hard work. I also want to pay tribute to Casey today because he delivered a brilliant performance. Physically he wasn't in the best shape but it was still very hard to beat him. Now we got to Brno with a lot of confidence and I'm optimistic that the podium is a realistic target again.”

Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: 4th
“I'm definitely disappointed with how the weekend went. We had a strong start on Friday morning and then had a few issues Friday afternoon in FP2. We showed that we certainly had the pace for pole position and fight for the win, but unfortunately I had a huge crash in qualifying. The injuries I sustained from the crash made things very difficult for us and we lost precious track time to work on the set-up. This morning in warm-up I was just getting comfortable on the bike and trying to get a feel for everything rather than working on set up. The race was equally as difficult. We had a rough start and got pushed back some positions and had to fight our way back through. As soon as we did, unluckily Ben (Spies) had a bike failure and I found myself in the middle of the smoke, unsure where I was going and what I might hit and we lost positions again. At the end of the race it was almost impossible to maintain the pace. The painkillers I took to dull the pain gradually wore off at around the halfway point and, as I was compensating for my injury with the other side of my body, I simply had no energy left. It was frustrating to give up the podium position to Andrea (Dovizioso), but we did everything we could and at least I was able to ride and take some points.”

Alvaro Bautista, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 5th
“This result is fruit of all the hard work the guys in the team have done this weekend to get the feeling back that we had before Mugello. I knew I could have a good race today and after making some positions up at the start I was able to run with the front guys for most of the race. At the end (Andrea) Dovizioso and (Casey) Stoner were two or three tenths quicker than me, so I couldn't follow them but I think this is a positive result for us, especially after a couple of difficult races for us. I hope this means we are on the right lines for the upcoming races but I want to thank everybody in the team for helping me to get my confidence and feel for the bike back, as well as all the sponsors and everybody who has kept faith in us.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 6th
“Honestly, it was not one of our best races so far and I am a bit disappointed because we looked stronger than this. Sixth position is not a disaster, but I was expecting a bit more considering the pace of our qualification yesterday. Unfortunately I was not able to push in the first gear corners and I was losing quite a lot in the acceleration areas. I tried to pull it back in section two and section three, which was possible in the begging, but not over the all race distance. At the end I had to accept that today we were not so strong but we are doing well and we still hold the sixth position in the world standing.”

Valentino Rossi, Ducati Team: 7th
“It was a very complicated weekend. We expected it a little bit because last year was also challenging, but there were also some positive signs these two days. In the morning practice sessions and also in today’s warm-up, I was able to ride a bit better, with a pace of around 1:40.5. In the race though, with the higher temperatures of the afternoon, the rear tyre started to slide a lot after just a few laps. The harder I tried to push, the more it slid, so I actually went slower. I tried to stay with the others but I closed the front twice, and I nearly crashed. At that point, I decided to make it to the finish without making mistakes. I’m pleased that we go directly to Brno next week because it’s a track that I like a lot and last year we had a decent race. Then we’ll also have a test where we’ll try to take a good step forward with the bike because there are only seven rounds until the end and we have to do some better races.”

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