2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix

Australia  2008 Australian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 16 of 18 races in the
2008 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date 5 October 2008
Official name Australian Grand Prix
Location Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Course Permanent racing facility
4.448 km (2.764 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position
Rider Australia Casey Stoner
Time 1:28.665
Fastest lap
Rider United States Nicky Hayden
Time 1:30.059
Podium
First Australia Casey Stoner
Second Italy Valentino Rossi
Third United States Nicky Hayden
250 cc
Pole position
Rider Italy Marco Simoncelli
Time 1:32.075
Fastest lap
Rider Spain Álvaro Bautista
Time 1:32.710
Podium
First Italy Marco Simoncelli
Second Spain Álvaro Bautista
Third Finland Mika Kallio
125 cc
Pole position
Rider France Mike Di Meglio
Time 1:37.553
Fastest lap
Rider Germany Stefan Bradl
Time 1:37.908
Podium
First France Mike Di Meglio
Second Germany Stefan Bradl
Third Hungary Gábor Talmácsi

The 2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixteenth round of the 2008 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 35 October 2008 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Race report

The premier class MotoGP race was won by Casey Stoner from pole position. Stoner rode a lights to flag victory ahead of a fast and charging Valentino Rossi who started the race from 12th position on the grid. Nicky Hayden rounded out the podium finishing in a respectable third place.

In the early stages of the race, Stoner and Hayden had a battle that lasted many laps with the two pulling away from the chasing pack, trading fast laps between them. Casey Stoner gradually began to pull away as Hayden's tyres appeared to wear out slightly. Meanwhile Rossi was charging through the midfield, getting up to 8th position after only the first lap. Rossi quickly disposed of a number of riders in the first few laps, but lost vital time while attempting to overtake his teammate Jorge Lorenzo and former SBK champion James Toseland. Rossi was setting fast lap times but his entertaining battle with these two riders meant he was losing time, and all chances of catching Stoner and Hayden who were riding off into the distance were slowly fading.

After losing the front end going in MG Corner just after Lukey Heights, Rossi lost yet more time. After a few laps he managed to get into the tow behind Toseland and past him going into the long sweeping turn 1. Toseland had no reply and Rossi had his eyes firmly set on catching the leaders. Rossi caught Hayden with only 2 laps to go, but Stoner was simply too far already to be challenged for the win. By this stage of the race, Hayden's rear tyre was very worn as he had not conserved it in the early stages of the race. Rossi pulled a textbook move going into turn 1 on the last lap, Hayden lost ground from here and could not get close enough to attempt to retake second place.

MotoGP classification

Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Australia Casey Stoner Ducati 27 40:56.643 1 25
2 46 Italy Valentino Rossi Yamaha 27 +6.504 12 20
3 69 United States Nicky Hayden Honda 27 +7.205 3 16
4 48 Spain Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 27 +11.500 2 13
5 56 Japan Shinya Nakano Honda 27 +11.914 9 11
6 52 United Kingdom James Toseland Yamaha 27 +12.243 5 10
7 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso Honda 27 +12.780 8 9
8 5 United States Colin Edwards Yamaha 27 +25.920 7 8
9 14 France Randy de Puniet Honda 27 +26.037 4 7
10 65 Italy Loris Capirossi Suzuki 27 +26.799 11 6
11 24 Spain Toni Elías Ducati 27 +27.027 13 5
12 13 Australia Anthony West Kawasaki 27 +47.808 18 4
13 21 United States John Hopkins Kawasaki 27 +48.333 16 3
14 50 France Sylvain Guintoli Ducati 27 +48.899 14 2
15 7 Australia Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 27 +48.935 15 1
16 33 Italy Marco Melandri Ducati 27 +1:11.767 17
Ret 15 San Marino Alex de Angelis Honda 0 Accident 10
Ret 2 Spain Dani Pedrosa Honda 0 Accident 6
OFFICIAL MOTOGP REPORT

250 cc classification

Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 58 Italy Marco Simoncelli Gilera 25 39:02.553 1 25
2 19 Spain Álvaro Bautista Aprilia 25 +0.223 3 20
3 36 Finland Mika Kallio KTM 25 +14.450 2 16
4 60 Spain Julián Simón KTM 25 +14.478 6 13
5 6 Spain Alex Debón Aprilia 25 +26.226 8 11
6 15 Italy Roberto Locatelli Gilera 25 +26.392 11 10
7 72 Japan Yuki Takahashi Honda 25 +26.434 7 9
8 41 Spain Aleix Espargaró Aprilia 25 +40.546 9 8
9 14 Thailand Ratthapark Wilairot Honda 25 +1:00.219 12 7
10 32 Italy Fabrizio Lai Gilera 25 +1:20.825 13 6
11 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham Aprilia 25 +1:22.802 17 5
12 25 Italy Alex Baldolini Aprilia 25 +1:22.864 18 4
13 10 Hungary Imre Tóth Aprilia 25 +1:23.995 16 3
14 52 Czech Republic Lukáš Pešek Aprilia 25 +1:39.740 14 2
15 35 Italy Simone Grotzkyj Gilera 24 +1 lap 21 1
16 92 Spain Daniel Arcas Aprilia 24 +1 lap 20
17 45 Indonesia Doni Tata Pradita Yamaha 24 +1 lap 22
Ret 4 Japan Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 15 Retirement 4
Ret 75 Italy Mattia Pasini Aprilia 15 Accident 10
Ret 55 Spain Héctor Faubel Aprilia 4 Accident 5
Ret 90 Italy Federico Sandi Aprilia 1 Accident 15
Ret 43 Spain Manuel Hernández Aprilia 1 Retirement 19
DNQ 89 China Ho Wan Chow Aprilia Did not qualify
DNQ 27 Italy Stefano Bianco Aprilia Did not qualify
OFFICIAL 250cc REPORT

125 cc classification

Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 63 France Mike Di Meglio Derbi 23 37:55.589 1 25
2 17 Germany Stefan Bradl Aprilia 23 +10.255 3 20
3 1 Hungary Gábor Talmácsi Aprilia 23 +13.106 9 16
4 29 Italy Andrea Iannone Aprilia 23 +13.149 5 13
5 44 Spain Pol Espargaró Derbi 23 +26.796 15 11
6 11 Germany Sandro Cortese Aprilia 23 +27.123 6 10
7 12 Spain Esteve Rabat KTM 23 +27.181 17 9
8 24 Italy Simone Corsi Aprilia 23 +27.871 8 8
9 93 Spain Marc Márquez KTM 23 +28.287[N 1] 12 7
10 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding Aprilia 23 +35.087 11 6
11 7 Spain Efrén Vázquez Aprilia 23 +57.392 25 5
12 8 Italy Lorenzo Zanetti KTM 23 +57.413 19 4
13 22 Spain Pablo Nieto KTM 23 +57.451 16 3
14 6 Spain Joan Olivé Derbi 23 +57.539 18 2
15 21 Germany Robin Lässer Aprilia 23 +1:06.318 23 1
16 72 Italy Marco Ravaioli Aprilia 23 +1:06.320 29
17 26 Spain Adrián Martín Aprilia 23 +1:42.441 30
18 36 France Cyril Carrillo Honda 23 +1:42.455 31
19 28 Spain Enrique Jerez KTM 23 +1:43.792 32
20 91 Australia Jed Metcher Honda 22 +1 lap 33
21 34 Switzerland Randy Krummenacher KTM 21 +2 laps 20
Ret 38 United Kingdom Bradley Smith Aprilia 21 Accident 2
Ret 48 Switzerland Bastien Chesaux Aprilia 14 Retirement 28
Ret 33 Spain Sergio Gadea Aprilia 13 Retirement 14
Ret 51 United States Stevie Bonsey Aprilia 12 Retirement 13
Ret 70 Australia Rhys Moller Honda 10 Accident 34
Ret 16 France Jules Cluzel Loncin 8 Accident 27
Ret 46 Australia Brad Gross Yamaha 8 Retirement 35
Ret 56 Netherlands Hugo van den Berg Aprilia 7 Accident 21
Ret 95 Romania Robert Mureșan Aprilia 2 Accident 24
Ret 35 Italy Raffaele De Rosa KTM 2 Accident 7
Ret 5 France Alexis Masbou Loncin 1 Retirement 22
Ret 18 Spain Nicolás Terol Aprilia 1 Retirement 4
Ret 73 Japan Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 0 Retirement 26
Ret 77 Switzerland Dominique Aegerter Derbi 0 Accident 10
DNS 99 United Kingdom Danny Webb Aprilia Did not start
DNQ 32 Australia Blake Leigh-Smith Honda Did not qualify
DNQ 92 Australia Jake Horne Honda Did not qualify
DNQ 60 Austria Michael Ranseder Aprilia Did not qualify
OFFICIAL 125cc REPORT

Notes

  1. Marc Márquez received a 1-second penalty.

References

Previous race:
2008 Japanese Grand Prix
FIM Grand Prix World Championship
2008 season
Next race:
2008 Malaysian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2007 Australian Grand Prix
Australian motorcycle Grand Prix Next race:
2009 Australian Grand Prix

Coordinates: 38°30′11.5″S 145°14′1″E / 38.503194°S 145.23361°E / -38.503194; 145.23361

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