The Australian GP at Phillip Island was one of the races with the lowest number of partecipants on the MotoGP grid as only fourteen riders were able to take part at the start, with Jorge Lorenzo, Ben Spies and Damian Cudlin all ruled out of the race after this morning’s warm-up due to injuries.
Only ten lucky riders made it to the finish line as four crashed out and a certain Casey Stoner won the 2011 title.
Here’s what the rest of the riders had to say following the 16th round of the season and there’ll be very little rest for them, as the 17th MotoGP round will be next week in Malaysia.
Marco Simoncelli – 2nd“I am delighted! It was a really tough race with changeable conditions throughout and every time I saw raindrops on my visor I was unsure whether I could push or not.
I managed to put a little gap on Dovizioso and Pedrosa, but when the rain came Dovizioso was able to catch me and make a pass.
I managed to stay with him and follow his lines so when the track was dry again on the last lap I was able to throw everything at him and make the pass.
I had been second for the whole race and I didn’t want to give up on it until the end.
It was nice to finish directly behind the new world champion.
I feel sorry for (Jorge) Lorenzo and I hope he is fit and back on track again soon.
” Andrea Dovizioso – 3rd“It was a difficult race as we expected.
This track is very tricky, as are the weather conditions.
To return on the podium and arrive in front of Dani here at Phillip Island is a very good result for us and it was our target before getting here.
I think we could have even finished in second position, but when Dani overtook me in the middle of the race we lost contact with Simoncelli.
Then I retook the position when the rain came, but on the final lap I didn’t have enough grip to push hard in the last few corners.
Anyway, we are still fighting for the third place in the championship and I’m sure Dani will be strong in the last two races, but we will try to do our best until the end.
Casey has had an amazing season, he is the fastest rider at the moment, so congratulations to him for the title.
”Dani Pedrosa – 4th“It’s been very tough today, I didn’t feel comfortable throughout the weekend and the race didn’t start in the best way either.
I had a problem with the wind at the start; I almost lost balance and I had to put the left foot on the ground at the same time as the red light went out, so I had a bad start.
The first few laps were not so good, then I recovered slightly, I overtook Andrea and fought with him, but the front tyre was finished in the last laps.
When I tried to pull away I was losing the front, so I couldn’t keep him behind and then the rain arrived.
It’s not been a good weekend for me.
I want to say congratulations to Casey for his title.
He’s been the strongest this season, always on the podium, with no mistakes, so he deserves it.
”Colin Edwards – 5th“That was all about surviving because the conditions might have looked great on TV with the sun shining but the wind was horrendous.
We know the wind plays a big part here normally but today it seemed particularly bad and it was impossible to judge when a gust was going to hit you from one lap to the next.
I got into a pretty good rhythm and I was happy to be running a consistent pace in eighth when all the late chaos happened.
It is never a good feeling when you see rain spots on the visor with slick tyres on but there was only rain in a small part of the track.
I knew it was a flag-to-flag situation but I never thought about pulling in for the rain bike.
I was just riding as hard as I could but a s safe as I could in the last couple of laps and fifth is a great result.
I just want to say congratulations to Casey because he has been awesome all year and he’s a worthy World Champion.
As a fellow rider you have to admire what he’s done.
”Randy de Puniet – 6th“I am very happy with how it went today.
Yesterday we were very unlucky in qualifying session and today things have turned in our favor.
At the beginning of the race I lost a little time to overtake Loris, but once I made it, while trying to reach Edwards and Hayden, a little bit of rain made me go wide and this made me lose about ten seconds.
So I fought with the group for the ninth position until four laps left in the race when the rain was back on the track.
I saw the other riders go as fast as if the track was dry and so I saw them slipping in front of me one by one.
In addition, some rider have returned to the pits to change bikes, but I had confidence to continue with the bike with dry set up and this helped me to conclude in an excellent sixth place!”Toni Elias – 8th“This was a difficult race for us because the weather was pretty bad and in these conditions we always suffer very much.
I can not warm up the rear tyre properly and since the beginning of the race I have suffered edge grip issues.
We have been lucky because some riders crashed out in the last part of the race and we could finish in the top ten.
Hopefully we can adjust the bike for next race in Sepang where the temperature is totally different.
”Loris Capirossi – 9th“I started well but after a few laps between the pain at my shoulder and the weather changing I tried to manage the race to complete it.
When there was four laps left I felt heavy heavy rain coming down just before the final straight and then I thought it was appropriate to enter the pits to change bike.
Unfortunately it ended up not being the right choice because I probably could have finished the race a couple of positions ahead, but the ninth is still satisfactory considering my physical condition.
”Karel Abraham – 10thMy start wasn’t very good, but then I overtook some riders and stayed in contact with the rest of the field.
It was a fun to battle with other riders for the entire race.
Unfortunately, we didn’t knew that the part of the track was soaked by heavy rain and then we crashed in identical circumstances.
I’m glad I was able to finish the race in tenth position.
Points for this race are very important for us.
”Hiroshi Aoyama – DNF“It has been a very difficult race because of the strong winds and the mixed conditions.
I really wanted to have a good race because these are my last few races in MotoGP, but this weekend has been particularly difficult with the crash yesterday and then again today in turn nine when a sudden rain shower hit that part of the track.
I am really disappointed and hope to make up for it next week in Malaysia.
”Cal Crutchlow – DNF“I’m pretty disappointed because it has been a very difficult weekend, so to get a top 10 would have been a very positive way to sign off.
I’d been having a really good battle with Abraham, Aoyama and de Puniet and I was confident I was going to finish at least eighth.
But I came into Lukey Heights and couldn’t even see any rain and the next thing I was down.
The weird thing is Aoyama went down right in front of me on the same wet patch, so it was like synchronised crashing.
I had no idea why I’d crashed and someone in the crowd told me it had rained really quickly and then stopped.
It is a pity because that cost me a decent result but I’ll be looking to get back in the fight for the top 10 in Sepang next week.
I tested twice at that track in the winter and while it was tough, I’ve gained so much experience since then that there’s no reason why I can’t have a strong weekend.
”Álvaro Bautista – DNF“It was a good, but in the end disappointing race for us today.
We didn’t start so well, but I was with the front group and very close to the podium battle.
After a few laps, when the tyres started to lose their grip, I started to fight with Nicky and we lost time to the others.
After I got away from Nicky I tried to concentrate to get the most from the used tyre and do my best.
I just had to finish the race to get a fifth place, which would have been a good result here.
The conditions were difficult though because during the whole race it was raining in some parts of the track and each lap seemed different.
In turn 10 I saw some drops of rain on the screen and before I could even think to react I crashed – the surface was very wet and I just couldn’t do anything about it! I am sorry for the whole team because they did a fantastic job for the whole weekend and we started from the front row for the first time this year.
We were in fifth in the race and looking good, so I’m really sorry for the crash – those guys deserved something from this weekend.
We now have to look forward to the next race and take all the positives from here toMalaysia and I’m sure we can go well there.
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