2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix

The 2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixteenth round of the 2008 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 3–5 October 2008 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

  2008 Australian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 16 of 18 races in the
2008 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date5 October 2008
Official nameAustralian Grand Prix[1][2][3]
LocationPhillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Course
  • Permanent racing facility
  • 4.448 km (2.764 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position
Rider Casey Stoner
Time 1:28.665
Fastest lap
Rider Nicky Hayden
Time 1:30.059
Podium
First Casey Stoner
Second Valentino Rossi
Third Nicky Hayden
250 cc
Pole position
Rider Marco Simoncelli
Time 1:32.075
Fastest lap
Rider Álvaro Bautista
Time 1:32.710
Podium
First Marco Simoncelli
Second Álvaro Bautista
Third Mika Kallio
125 cc
Pole position
Rider Mike Di Meglio
Time 1:37.553
Fastest lap
Rider Stefan Bradl
Time 1:37.908
Podium
First Mike Di Meglio
Second Stefan Bradl
Third Gábor Talmácsi

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 Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 27 40:56.643 1 25
2 46 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 27 +6.504 12 20
3 69 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda 27 +7.205 3 16
4 48 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 27 +11.500 2 13
5 56 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 27 +11.914 9 11
6 52 James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 27 +12.243 5 10
7 4 Andrea Dovizioso JiR Team Scot MotoGP Honda 27 +12.780 8 9
8 5 Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 27 +25.920 7 8
9 14 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 27 +26.037 4 7
10 65 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 27 +26.799 11 6
11 24 Toni Elías Alice Team Ducati 27 +27.027 13 5
12 13 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 27 +47.808 18 4
13 21 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 27 +48.333 16 3
14 50 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team Ducati 27 +48.899 14 2
15 7 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 27 +48.935 15 1
16 33 Marco Melandri Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 27 +1:11.767 17
Ret 15 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 0 Accident 10
Ret 2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 0 Accident 6
Sources: [4][5][6]

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

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

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round sixteen has concluded.[7]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes
  1. Marc Márquez received a 1-second penalty.

References
  1. "2008 Australian MotoGP". Motorpsortmagazine.com. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "2008 MotoGP Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". progcovers.com.
  3. Mitchell, Malcolm. "Phillip Island Circuit - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  4. "2008 Australian MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". 13 June 2017.
  5. "Classification" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 2008.
  6. "motogp.com · AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX · MotoGP Race Classification 2008". motogp.com.
  7. "Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
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

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