With six laps to go, the race at the Sepang International Circuit was cancelled due to heavy tropical rain. Pedrosa was
6.4 seconds ahead of Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo and his Honda team mate Stoner was chasing the Mallorcan for second
place when the red flag was displayed and prevented him progressing any
further.
With the weather conditions not improving, the decision was made not to restart the race and Pedrosa celebrated his first victory in rainy conditions, his sixth of this season and the 44th in his Grand Prix career.
With two races remaining this season, Pedrosa is 23 points behind his fellow compatriot Jorge Lorenzo, who can secure this year's title next weekend in Australia if he finishes in the top 13 and in front of Pedrosa.
Stoner, who has two more races left in MotoGP before hanging up his leathers, returned to the podium in Malaysia for the sixth time in 2012. The Aussie was cautious and therefore unable to match the pace of the two Spanish title contenders 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 the Yamaha Factory rider when the race was red flagged.
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 GinΓ©s, 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.”
Press release courtesy of Repsol Honda Team.
With the weather conditions not improving, the decision was made not to restart the race and Pedrosa celebrated his first victory in rainy conditions, his sixth of this season and the 44th in his Grand Prix career.
With two races remaining this season, Pedrosa is 23 points behind his fellow compatriot Jorge Lorenzo, who can secure this year's title next weekend in Australia if he finishes in the top 13 and in front of Pedrosa.
Stoner, who has two more races left in MotoGP before hanging up his leathers, returned to the podium in Malaysia for the sixth time in 2012. The Aussie was cautious and therefore unable to match the pace of the two Spanish title contenders 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 the Yamaha Factory rider when the race was red flagged.
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 GinΓ©s, 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.”
Press release courtesy of Repsol Honda Team.
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