Michelin’s six MotoGP riders all finished inside the top nine at Phillip Island today, the French tyre brand’s best finisher Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) taking a great podium result in third place.
Michelin men played a thrilling part in the most entertaining action of the race, Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) and Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) battling back and forth in a breathtaking contest for fourth place. That position eventually went to Lorenzo, while Toseland and Dovizioso finished sixth and seventh, just 0.7 seconds and 1.3 seconds behind the Spaniard. Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) won another great battle for eighth place, beating Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin) by just one tenth of a second. Yesterday Michelin’s six riders all qualified inside the top eight, with Lorenzo and Hayden on the front row.
“Nicky rode a good race today, he fought well to stay with Casey [Stoner, race winner] and really deserved his podium finish,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “Having all six of our riders in the top nine is good, and it was great to see Lorenzo, Toseland and Dovizioso battling for fourth place with Shinya Nakano. Nicky chose a medium tyre, not the harder tyre we had suggested. He did this because he felt more confident with the medium tyre which gave him more grip early on.”
Hayden was delighted with his second podium finish in three races, today’s result following his brilliant runner-up finish in last month’s rain-lashed Indianapolis GP. “It’s cool to be on the podium, I enjoyed the race,” said the American. “My Michelin guys wanted me to run a harder tyre. I did the sighting lap on that tyre, but put back in my original choice for the race. The warm-up was really good, it was nice to get some heat in there. It got a little loose at the end but it was fun.”
Race Classification:1. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team), 40'56.643
2. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team), + 6.504
3. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin), + 7.205
4. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team- Michelin), + 11.500
5. Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini), + 11.914
6. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), + 12.243
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP-Michelin), + 12.780
8. Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), + 25.920
9. Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP- Michelin), + 26.037
10. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), + 26.799
11. Toni ELIAS (Alice Team DUCATI), + 27.027
12. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team), + 47.808
13. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team), + 48.333
14. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team), + 48.899
15. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), + 48.935
16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team), 1'11.767
DNF First Lap:Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team)
Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda Gresini)
