It was a highly dramatic and very rider unfriendly MotoGP race at Valencia yesterday and as Ben Spies, who was sitting at home recovering from his injury said on Twitter, “it was all about survival.
” Tire gambles paid off for some riders, and a keeping their wheels on very tight and drying racing line was nerve-racking and difficult, but if you wandered just inches off that line, the dark asphalt of the Ricardo Tormo circuit punished you, as you can read from the statements of several riders who were caught out by the mixed surface, however the 2012 season is now officially over and the 2013 one starts tomorrow with the official two day test – and hopefully the track will be fully dry.
Alvaro Bautista – 4th “That was definitely the most difficult race of the season.
On the warm-up lap I decided to come in and swap the bike for the other one with slick tyres on because I could see the track was drying.
I tried to manage the situation as best I could out there and focus on our objective of making sure of fifth in the championship but I’m not happy with the performance because again I had no feeling on the front.
But anyway the season is over now and I am happy with where we have finished and with the progress we have made over the course of the season.
Thanks to the team, Fausto Gresini and all the sponsors who have supported us.
Now we start looking towards 2013 and I am happy to be with the same team and all the guys who have worked so hard this year.
We have a good base to work from and improve next year.
” Michele Pirro – 5th “What a fantastic day! To finish fifth and as the top CRT, with the best CRT result of the season, is wonderful.
It wasn’t an easy race but we tried to push our best and take a few risks.
Like last year when I won the Moto2 race I could feel Marco’s hand on my shoulder, giving me a push, and I feel this is a fitting way to say good bye to Team Gresini.
The past two years with them have been very important for my career so I want to thank each and every member.
The memories of our victory together here at Valencia last year and this fantastic result today will stay with us forever and it has been wonderful to write a small chapter in the history of this great championship.
Thanks everybody.
”Karel Abraham – 7th “It was indeed a wacky race and there was much excitement on the track.
There were many surprising moments.
At one moment, I was overtaken by the winner of the race, Dani Pedrosa, but I had no idea I was just being lapped.
I thought he had just had his tyres changed in the pit.
So I was in fact racing with him without actually having to.
On the other hand, it’s great that I managed to overtake him and stay in front of him.
I am really glad that I managed to achieve the best result among Ducatis and leave Valentino Rossi behind.
When I caught up with him I thought he had a wet tyre and I was really surprised that he had a slick.
On the other hand, I am a little upset that Dovizioso eventually overtook me, because I could have finished sixth.
It was a tyre lottery prior to the race.
It was not the wisest of choices on our part.
I am a little disappointed, but, then again, there is no point in looking back.
With slick tyres from the very beginning, I could have been on the podium.
On the other hand, I would have risked falling because the dry racing line was really narrow at the beginning of the race.
Andrea Dovizioso – 6th “It is a pity that I could only finish my last race with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team in sixth position.
I’m sorry because I selected the worst strategy possible with the tyre choice and I’m disappointed.
Normally I am always very strong at interpreting the conditions in the right way but this time I chose to start on the wet tyres and it was clearly the wrong decision.
The o ther decision that compromised my race was I stayed out too long before coming in and changing to slicks.
I didn’t have a reference because I was in the lead but when I saw Jorge I understood it was already too late.
But I still came in to change to slicks.
I then stalled the bike, so I lost more time.
I didn’t give up and found a good rhythm so I get back into the top six which is at least decent finish.
It has been a fantastic season with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and I have enjoyed the experience a lot.
The Team is incredibly professional and it has been an honour for me to ride with them and achieve a lot of success together.
”James Ellison – 9th“Well, I’m not going to lie, it was another emotional race today, a lot of feelings came out as I was riding round knowing it was my last GP and knowing my dad wasn’t here to see me do so well and knowing that everything I have worked so hard for all year has come to an end.
I’ve really enjoyed working with the PBM UK team and will miss every single one of them especially my garage crew of Phil, Mick, Dave, Dan, Brucie and Glen as we have grown so close through the year enjoying the good times and sticking together through the bad.
I’d like to thank Paul Bird for the opportunity this year, Kelly for her hard work behind the scenes and everyone else that made my return to the premier class possible.
There are too many to list but I’d like to thank you all individually and you know who you are.
Regarding the race I think we made the right decision by starting on wets and pulling in for slicks early on, a ninth place and ninth fastest lap was a great way to end the season.
As for the future, who knows, but I will be racing a motorcycle in 2013.
” Aleix Espargaró – 11th“I am very happy, because finally we were able to claim the prize for best CRT riders of the year.
The race was very strange, as on the grid I was a little nervous about the tyre choice.
I knew that I could go faster with the slicks, but it was very risky so I used the wets.
There was a dry line that was rather unstable, so it was only my teammate who used slicks in the end.
Once the race began, I focused on going as hard as I could until the tyre went off, then I changed bikes.
I concentrated on catching Randy, and when I passed him I relaxed a bit to enjoy the race and finish as high up as possible.
I think that we have had a formidable season and that this has been reflected with the best CRT prize.
The most important thing is that the team has supported me, which I value a lot.
Jorge gave me a lot of confidence from the start and I want to thank him and enjoy having reached our goal.
”Randy De Puniet – 12th“Against all predictions, we decided to go with the slicks when the track was still damp.
I think that it was a good choice.
On Friday I felt really comfortable in a similar situation, but I don’t know what happened in the race today that made me feel so strange.
I didn’t have any confidence in the front end and I was having a lot of difficult in keeping the bike up.
That meant that I went wide on a number of occasions.
I am a bit annoyed, because having watched the race, I can see that with a better feeling I could have fought for the top positions.
Now the season is over, we need to focus on doing a good job in the test this week and go into the winter break feeling calm.
”Colin Edwards – 14th “The conditions for the race were half wet, half dry.
You were both gambling if you went with dry and you gambling if you went with wet.
With this particular bike I felt the safest option was to go with wet.
Went out and our rain setting, we must have changed something from this morning and when I got in the corner and open full gas it just wouldn’t go anywhere.
I came in, changed bike and just went out and it stopped downshifting.
At that point I was just kind of surviving and waiting to see what happened and finally finished the race and got a few points.
The season is over and in a few days we start testing and I am looking forward to it.
”Stefan Bradl – DNF “First of all we had very tricky conditions today as almost everybody was on wet tyres because the dry line was less than 10cm and we decided to go on slicks because we wanted to avoid a bike chance which could cost us a lot of time.
At the end we made the right choice and want to the thank the Team for their support because it’s not easy for a rider to decide when the surface is so slippery.
I was on a good pace since the beginning and was lapping third when I crashed out.
The rider in front of me was slower and I wanted to overtake him quickly but in turn 5 I was a bit too aggressive and lost the control of the bike.
I should have waited a bit longer to make the move and I feel bad for the Team because I lost the chance to fight for the podium.
However I feel happy today because I will be awarded as the Best Rookie of the Year and this is simply great.
This first year in the premier class was incredible for me and must thank Lucio and his Team because at the beginning I was a bit worried but now I know this is like a family”.
Cal Crtuchlow – DNF “Obviously I am very disappointed to finish the season like that.
I wasn’t sure whether to start on wet tyres but I saw Dani pit and just followed him.
Going to slicks was obviously the right choice but although there was a dry line, in some places it was so narrow that you couldn’t go off line to overtake because it was way too risky.
Dani got through the pack quicker than me but once I got into a fast rhythm I felt really at ease.
I had a comfortable lead over third and it was looking good for me to get my best MotoGP result when I hit the smallest wet patch going into the final corner.
It just flicked the bike enough to throw me off the left side and I was actually lucky not to get tangled up with the bike.
It is a shame because I wasn’t pushing that hard, but in those conditions we saw loads of people getting caught out.
But once again I showed I was really fast and we take a lot of positives from the second half of the season.
I’ve been on the podium twice and in the last races I’ve been right in the battle for the podium.
I’d like to have had a few more finishes but I’ve shown my potential this year and that I am good enough to fight with the best in the world.
I can now look forward to 2013 with a lot of confidence.
”Roberto Rolfo – DNF“I’m sorry because this could have been a good race.
We started off with rain tyres and we used them till they were working well.
I got the guys to know I was going back to the pit lane and when we changed bike we were fast, we managed to make a small gap from Ellison, whom I had overtaken on the last turn of that lap.
On slick tyres I was comfortable immediately and we had a good performance in each corner.
On the seventh lap, however, I crashed out, maybe there were still some very wet spots on the track or the tyre was still too cold.
The crash ruined the bike quite a lot and I couldn’t restart.
There were a few crashes like this one, maybe I should have taken it easier.
We didn’t get any points and this adventure ends in this way.
I’d like to thank the team for these four races, they were a lot of fun.
I got along with the crew and, despite the results, this was a positive experience.
”