Casey Stoner moved into the 2012 MotoGP Championship lead after winning his second consecutive race in Portugal, denying yet again, Lorenzo from victory.
Stoner made a good a start and managed to keep his rival Lorenzo behind him, ultimately widening the gap to 1.4 seconds after just 3 laps. Stoner lost the advantage after Lorenzo’s tyres had warmed up, leaving the Spaniard right on his tail, Stoner then picked up his pace and controlled the gap to come home first.
Pedrosa took the lead early on in the race, but a mistake meant that both Stoner and Lorenzo would retake their positions; he maintained his position throughout the race, finishing 3rd.
Cal Crutchlow was running fourth ahead of teammate Andrea Dovizioso, until a late mistake relegated him to 5th, and elevated Dovizioso to 4th.
Alvaro Bautista and Valentino Rossi had a quiet race to finish 6th and 7th respectively. This is Rossi’s second top 8 finish in 9 months, his teammate Nicky Hayden came home 11th.
Ben Spies struggled for pace throughout the race. He ran as high as fourth but ended up duelling with Stefan Bradl for eighth.
Hector Barbera wrapped up the top 10 with a second consecutive 10th place finish.
1. Casey Stoner Honda 45m37.513s 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha + 1.421s 3. Dani Pedrosa Honda + 3.621s 4. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha + 13.846s 5. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha + 16.690s 6. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda + 21.884s 7. Valentino Rossi Ducati + 26.797s 8. Ben Spies Yamaha + 33.262s 9. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda + 35.867s 10. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati + 53.363s 11. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 1m02.630s 12. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia + 1m20.736s 13. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia + 1m23.483s 14. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR/Honda + 1m37.905s 15. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia + 1 lap