2012_Grand_Prix_motorcycle_racing_season

2012 MotoGP World Championship

2012 MotoGP World Championship

Sports season


The 2012 FIM MotoGP World Championship was the premier class of the 64th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Casey Stoner started the season as the defending World Champion, while Honda was the defending Manufacturers' Champion.[1]

Jorge Lorenzo became the MotoGP world champion.

In the premier MotoGP class, the championship battle revolved around Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo and Honda pairing Dani Pedrosa and defending champion Stoner. Lorenzo won four of the first six races to be held in the campaign to open up an advantage over Stoner, before he was taken out of the Dutch TT on the first lap by Álvaro Bautista; Stoner won the race to eradicate the points lead.[2] In the next race, Stoner crashed out of the German Grand Prix on the final lap and allowed Pedrosa to take his first win of the season.[3] Stoner struggled in the next few races – despite a victory at the United States Grand Prix[4] – with his championship challenge ended by a qualifying crash at Indianapolis. After ankle surgery,[5] he returned to the series and won his final race of his career at his home race, the Australian Grand Prix, for the sixth successive season.[6] Pedrosa went on a run of five victories in six races, with the streak being interrupted by a first-lap crash at Misano, where he was taken out by Héctor Barberá.[7] Lorenzo finished second to Pedrosa on each occasion that he had won, and he took advantage of Pedrosa's accident to win at Misano.[8] Lorenzo ultimately won the title with a second-place finish to Stoner in Australia, after Pedrosa had crashed out of the lead early on.

Changes

Class changes

The MotoGP class saw the introduction of engines with 1,000 cc (61 cu in) in capacity, with a limit of 4 cylinders and a maximum 81 mm (3.2 in) cylinder bore.[9]

Claiming Rule Teams

In 2012 the MotoGP class saw the introduction of Claiming Rule Teams (CRT) to allow for participation by independent teams with lower budgets. CRTs were given twelve engines per rider, six more than the other teams and more fuel – 24 litres (5.3 imperial gallons) instead of 21 litres (4.6 imperial gallons) – but were subject to a factory team buying, or "claiming", their engines for €15,000, or €20,000 with the transmission.[10] The sport's governing body received applications from sixteen new teams looking to join the MotoGP class.[11]

Calendar

The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 2012:[12][13]

The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme released an 18-race provisional calendar on 14 September 2011.[14] Another provisional calendar was released three months later, with the Qatar Grand Prix moved forward by a week.[15]

‡ = Night race
† = MotoGP class only
†† = Saturday race

Calendar changes

  • Only the MotoGP class raced during the United States Grand Prix because of a Californian law on air pollution and the contract that had initially been signed prevented the Moto3 and Moto2 classes from racing from when they were still 125cc and 250cc 2-stroke bikes.
  • The Czech Republic and Indianapolis Grand Prix swapped places.

Teams and riders

More information Prototype entries, Team ...

All the bikes used Bridgestone tyres.

New entries

In June 2011, the FIM announced that six teams from Moto2 – Interwetten Paddock, Forward Racing, Marc VDS, Kiefer Racing, Speed Master and BQR-Blusens (later renamed Avintia Racing)[41] – had been granted entries to the 2012 grid;[42] two additional entries – Paul Bird Motorsport[39] and Ioda Racing[56] – announced that they had been accepted to the grid, running under CRT regulations. However, Interwetten Paddock, Marc VDS, and Kiefer Racing were absent from the revised grid released by FIM in January 2012.[16]

Rider changes

Results and standings

Grands Prix

More information Round, Grand Prix ...

Riders' standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points.

More information Position, Points ...
More information Pos, Rider ...

Constructors' standings

Each constructor received the same number of points as their best placed rider in each race.

More information Pos, Constructor ...

Teams' standings

The teams' standings were based on results obtained by regular and substitute riders; wild-card entries were ineligible.

More information Pos, Team ...

Notes

  1. Héctor Barberá competed in the first Friday practice session during round 11, before being replaced by Toni Elías.

References

  1. Rostance, Tom (16 October 2011). "Casey Stoner seals MotoGP title with win in Australia". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  2. Rostance, Tom (30 June 2012). "Casey Stoner level with Jorge Lorenzo after Assen win". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  3. Birt, Matthew (9 July 2012). "Casey Stoner makes last lap blunder". Motor Cycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  4. Osborne, Chris (29 July 2012). "Casey Stoner wins US GP ahead of Jorge Lorenzo". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  5. "Casey Stoner undergoes surgery on broken ankle". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  6. "Lorenzo crowned Champion as Stoner makes it six at Australian GP". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  7. "Pedrosa suffers Misano to forget". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  8. Rostance, Tom (16 September 2012). "Jorge Lorenzo wins as Dani Pedrosa crashes in Misano". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  9. "MotoGP changes for 2012". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 11 December 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  10. "Corrado Cecchinelli talks CRT regulations". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 3 May 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  11. Beer, Matt (1 May 2011). "New teams lining up for MotoGP 2012". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  12. "MotoGP Calendar". www.yamaha-racing.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-17. Retrieved 2018-06-17.
  13. "2012 World Motorcycle Championship". motorsportmagazine.com. 12 June 2017.
  14. "2012 MotoGP World Championship calendar released". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  15. "FIM announce changes to 2012 MotoGP calendar". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  16. "Provisional 2012 MotoGP entry list released". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  17. "Valentino Rossi to leave Yamaha for Ducati in 2011". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 August 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2011. Seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi has confirmed he will leave the Fiat Yamaha team to ride for Ducati for two years from 2011.
  18. Beer, Matt (29 August 2010). "Hayden gets two more years at Ducati". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 August 2011. Ducati has extended Nicky Hayden's contract by a further two years, meaning the American will stay on to partner Valentino Rossi in 2011 and 2012.
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  23. O'Leary, Jamie (17 November 2011). "Stefan Bradl to step up to MotoGP in 2012 with LCR Honda". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  24. "Team San Carlo Honda Gresini – Alvaro Bautista and San Carlo Honda Gresini together in 2012". gresiniracing.com. Gresini Racing. 9 November 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2011. An agreement has been reached between Alvaro Bautista and Fausto Gresini for the Spaniard to ride a Honda RC213V with Team San Carlo Honda Gresini in 2012. Thanks to the co-operation of Suzuki, Bautista gets his first chance to ride the bike ridden this year by Hiroshi Aoyama at Valencia today.
  25. "Jorge Lorenzo agrees new Yamaha deal". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 2 October 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
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  27. Birt, Matthew (10 October 2011). "Tech 3 thrilled to capture Andrea Dovizioso for 2012". Motor Cycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  28. "Monster Yamaha Tech 3 confirm Cal Crutchlow for 2011". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2010. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is delighted to announce the signing of British rider Cal Crutchlow to contest the MotoGP World Championship for the next two years.
  29. "Aspar goes blue with Power Electronics". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  30. Birt, Matthew (13 October 2011). "Aspar confirms Ducati split". Motor Cycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  31. "Randy de Puniet to MotoGP Aspar Team in 2012". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 25 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  32. "Mattia Pasini takes over Speed Master MotoGP ride". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  33. "Speed Master announces Rolfo in place of Pasini". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  34. "Ellison confirms MotoGP return, Aprilia engine". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 10 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  35. "GPTech to field second CRT wildcard of the season at Indianapolis". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  36. "BQR confirms Kawasaki powered MotoGP entry". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  37. Beer, Matt (16 June 2011). "Six Moto2 teams granted MotoGP entries". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 June 2011. Kiefer Racing, which currently leads the Moto2 standings with Stefan Bradl, BQR/Blusens, Forward Racing, Marc VDS Racing, Interwetten Paddock GP and the Speed Master team set up around Andrea Iannone this year will all have the opportunity to run one bike in MotoGP from next year under the less restricted 'Claiming Rule Teams' system being introduced as part of the switch from 800cc to 1000cc engines.
  38. "Gran Premio bwin de España – MotoGP Entry list" (PDF). motogp.com. Dorna Sports. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  39. "David Salom to replace Silva in Avintia Blusens team from Misano". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  40. "Kris McLaren to replace injured Hernandez in Australia". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
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  43. "Hector Barbera confirmed at Pramac Ducati". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  44. "Danilo Petrucci to debut in MotoGP with Ioda Racing". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
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  66. "Valencia extends MotoGP contract until 2016". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 4 November 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2011.

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