Hat-trick for Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa: Wins in Germany for the third year in a row

Sachsenring specialist Dani Pedrosa won his third successive German MotoGP on Sunday.

Casey Stoner looked to have second place secured, but he crashed out with two bends of the final lap remaining gifting Jorge Lorenzo the runner up spot.

Lorenzo leads the riders standings on 160 points with Pedrosa in second with 146 while Stoner is a further six points behind.

"At the start I wasn't comfortable because of changes to my bike. As I became used to all the changes I passed Casey, and was feeling good."
Dani Pedrosa Quotes of the week

Pedrosa found the early stages of a race a struggle due to bike changes, but entering the final laps the Honda rider was at his best.

"At the start I wasn't comfortable because of changes to my bike," he stated. "As I became used to all the changes I passed Casey, and was feeling good.

Maximum

"Towards the end I had to fight for the win, on the last lap I was racing at my maximum."

In contrast to Saturday's wet weather qualifying, a dry track greeted the grid headed by Stoner on pole but the Australian was beaten to the first corner by Pedrosa, who started in third.

Stoner though reclaimed the lead from his team-mate on turn nine of the opening lap, with Yamaha duo Ben Spies and Lorenzo racing in third and fourth.

With ten laps gone Lorenzo was up to third as in front Pedrosa stalked Stoner.

The Spaniard duly pounced and passed his Honda colleague with a dozen laps remaining, but was unable to pull clear, setting up a thrilling last third of the race with Lorenzo out of the picture, eight seconds adrift.

Stoner was all set to take second and add another valuable 20 points to his push for the championship until his front wheel went from under him on the last lap, the Australian sliding off, thankfully ending up unharmed in the gravel.