Dates 8 Apr 2012 – 11 Nov 2012 | ||
 | ||
Similar 2010 Grand Prix motorcycl, 2014 MotoGP season, 2009 Grand Prix motorcycl, 2008 Grand Prix motorcycl, 2015 MotoGP season | ||
Official video podcast assen 2012
The 2012 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was 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. Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl joined the MotoGP grid with LCR Honda and 125cc champion Nicolás Terol entered Moto2, racing for Aspar.
Contents
- Official video podcast assen 2012
- Class changes
- Claiming Rule Teams
- New entries
- 2012 Grand Prix season calendar
- Participants
- Rider changes
- Riders points standings
- Manufacturers championship
- References
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. 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. Stoner struggled in the next few races – despite a victory at the United States Grand Prix – with his championship challenge ended by a qualifying crash at Indianapolis. After ankle surgery, 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. 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. Lorenzo finished second to Pedrosa on each occasion that he had won, and he took advantage of Pedrosa's accident to win at Misano. Lorenzo ultimately won the title with a second-place finish to Stoner in Australia, after Pedrosa had crashed out of the lead early on.
In the other classes, Marc Márquez won the Moto2 championship title after a season-long battle with fellow Spanish rider Pol Espargaró; a third-place finish for Márquez at the Australian Grand Prix – despite a win for Espargaró – was enough to give him his second world title before moving into the premier class for the 2013 season. Márquez's result was enough to give Suter the constructors' title for the class. The inaugural Moto3 world championship title went to German rider Sandro Cortese, following his fourth victory of the season at the Malaysian Grand Prix, which gave him an unassailable points lead over his two title rivals Luis Salom and Maverick Viñales in the championship race. Cortese also became the first rider to win any Grand Prix title for the Austrian manufacturer KTM. KTM also won the constructors' championship at the Australian Grand Prix, doing so after Cortese won the race.
Class changes
The MotoGP class changes to allow up to 1,000 cc (61 cu in) in capacity, with a limit of 4 cylinders and a maximum 81 mm (3.2 in) cylinder bore.
The 2012 season will see the introduction of four-stroke bikes in the new Moto3 class.
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. The sport's governing body received applications from sixteen new teams looking to join the MotoGP class.
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) – had been granted entries to the 2012 grid; two additional entries – Paul Bird Motorsport and Ioda Racing – 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.
2012 Grand Prix season calendar
The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme released an 18-race provisional calendar on 14 September 2011. Another provisional calendar was released three months later, with the Qatar Grand Prix moved forward by a week.
Notes:
Participants
Rider changes
Riders' points standings
Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.
Manufacturers' championship
Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.
Participants
Notes:
Riders' points standings
Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.
Manufacturers' championship
Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.
Participants
Riders' points standings
Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.
Manufacturers' championship
Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.