Honda LCR rider Casey Stoner made a brilliant late race recovery to storm home in fifth place in today’s China Grand Prix. In a stunning performance on worn tyres, Stoner surged from eleventh to fifth in just three laps after running off the track on lap fifteen.
During his late race surge Stoner caught and passed Turkey GP winner Marco Melandri, also on a Honda, who finished seventh. After a good start Stoner settled in seventh place but was stuck behind Sete Gibernau until lap ten. While pushing to make up time, Stoner made a small mistake on the brakes on lap 15 and rejoined in 11th position before his impressive late race performance.
The race was won by Spanish rookie Dani Pedrosa on dry track in warm conditions after two days of mixed weather with both wet and dry practice sessions. Stoner is now fifth in the championship tandings with 52 points, just seven behind Loris Capirossi in second position on 59 points. Nicky Hayden leads with 72 points.

“I’m very happy with Casey’s result because we lost some valuable set-up time with the weather and a couple of small crashes in practice. Even though we did not have the perfect set-up Casey finished in front of many top riders, despite running off the track, and based on his lap times he could have challenged Edwards for the podium. It was another good result for the championship.”

“I made a good start but got shunted around in the first corner and then for a long time I was held up behind Sete Gibernau -- that destroyed my race. Gibernau had better corner exit than me and then he was really late on the brakes and there was no way to pass. I also had a lot of rear grip problems midcorner, it wasn’t the tyre, all the Honda’s were the same except the factory bikes of Dani and Nicky. I made a small mistake on the brakes trying to make up time and without that I think I had the pace to challenge Edwards for the podium -- my bike felt strong at the end of the race.”