The 2012 Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix was the eighteenth and final round of the 2012 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 9–11 November 2012 at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo.

The race was Casey Stoner's last before his retirement from the sport, and he took a third place podium finish. Dani Pedrosa won the race for Honda. Newly crowned MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo retired from the race, and finished the season 18 points ahead of runner-up Pedrosa in the standings. The result meant that Pedrosa had won 6 of the season's last 8 races, and that Lorenzo maintained his record of finishing first or second in every race he finished in 2012. Katsuyuki Nakasuga made just his second appearance in 2012 in place of the injured Ben Spies at Yamaha, and took advantage of the wet conditions to finish in second place (the only podium for a Japanese rider in any class in 2012).

Marc Márquez won the Moto2 race, despite starting from last place on the grid. It was Márquez's last Moto2 race, as he would replace Stoner at the Honda team for the 2013 season. Polesitter Pol Espargaró secured second in the championship behind Márquez by finishing in eighth. In Moto3, Danny Kent took his second victory of the season in front of champion Sandro Cortese and Zulfahmi Khairuddin to complete an all-KTM podium.

Report

Moto2 During a Friday practice session, newly crowned Moto2 champion Marc Márquez knocked Simone Corsi off his bike while attempting an overtake and was penalised for riding in an irresponsible manner by Race Direction. He was told to start the race from 33rd and last place on the grid. Pol Espargaró took pole position, and was joined on the front row by Thomas Lüthi and Takaaki Nakagami.

Within the first three corners of the race, Márquez had overtaken twenty riders and moved up to 13th place; by the end of the first lap, he was running in 11th. Espargaró got away from the line cleanly but struggled to maintain pace in the wet conditions, and quickly began to cede positions. Aspar rider Nicolás Terol took the race lead, and quickly set a gap from the rest of the field. On lap 9 he was caught by Julián Simón, who then stretched out his own gap ahead of Terol. Márquez became embroiled in a midfield battle with Dominique Aegerter and Gino Rea, who crashed out at the halfway point. Márquez began to lap over a second faster than any other rider on track. During the last laps of the race he hunted down first Terol and then Simón, who had seemed on course for his first Moto2 race win. Márquez ultimately claimed his ninth victory of the season by +1.256 seconds on Simón. Third-placed Terol finished over eleven seconds off the pace.

This was Márquez's last race in Moto2, as he moved into MotoGP for the 2013 season. Espargaró secured second in the championship behind Márquez by finishing in eighth. Simón and Terol (who took his first Moto2 podium) completed an all-Spanish podium.

Classification

MotoGP Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 26 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 30 48:23.819 1 25 2 21 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 30 +37.661 16 20 3 1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team Honda 30 +1:00.633 3 16 4 19 Álvaro Bautista San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 30 +1:02.811 8 13 5 51 Michele Pirro San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 30 +1:26.608 15 11 6 4 Andrea Dovizioso Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 30 +1:30.423 6 10 7 17 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 30 +1:31.789 13 9 8 9 Danilo Petrucci Came IodaRacing Project -Ioda-Suter 29 +1 lap 17 8 9 77 James Ellison Paul Bird Motorsport ART 29 +1 lap 20 7 10 46 Valentino Rossi Ducati Team Ducati 29 +1 lap 11 6 11 41 Aleix Espargaró Power Electronics Aspar ART 29 +1 lap 10 5 12 14 Randy de Puniet Power Electronics Aspar ART 28 +2 laps 12 4 13 73 Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia Blusens BQR 28 +2 laps 21 3 14 5 Colin Edwards NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 27 +3 laps 14 2 Ret 35 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 22 Accident 4 Ret 71 Claudio Corti Avintia Blusens Inmotec 17 Accident 22 Ret 8 Héctor Barberá Pramac Racing Team Ducati 16 Accident 9 Ret 99 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 13 Accident 2 Ret 6 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 9 Accident 5 Ret 84 Roberto Rolfo Speed Master ART 6 Accident 19 Ret 22 Iván Silva Avintia Blusens BQR 2 Accident 18 Ret 69 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team Ducati 2 Accident 7 Sources:

Moto2 Pos No Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 93 Marc Márquez Suter 27 48:50.706 33Marc Márquez was demoted from second to the back of the grid for causing a collision with Simone Corsi during free practice. 25 2 60 Julián Simón Suter 27 +1.256 11 20 3 18 Nicolás Terol Suter 27 +11.372 4 16 4 12 Thomas Lüthi Suter 27 +13.006 2 13 5 77 Dominique Aegerter Suter 27 +13.825 6 11 6 81 Jordi Torres Suter 27 +27.911 5 10 7 36 Mika Kallio Kalex 27 +36.338 15 9 8 40 Pol Espargaró Kalex 27 +38.335 1 8 9 24 Toni Elías Kalex 27 +39.419 14 7 10 80 Esteve Rabat Kalex 27 +39.476 13 6 11 29 Andrea Iannone Speed Up 27 +40.207 9 5 12 8 Gino Rea Suter 27 +41.197 19 4 13 17 Dani Rivas Kalex 27 +41.768 26 3 14 72 Yuki Takahashi FTR 27 +41.943 17 2 15 88 Ricard Cardús AJR 27 +42.303 28 1 16 38 Bradley Smith Tech 3 27 +43.064 21 17 3 Simone Corsi FTR 27 +49.970 8 18 75 Tomoyoshi Koyama Suter 27 +51.639 27 19 4 Randy Krummenacher Kalex 27 +53.198 18 20 49 Axel Pons Kalex 27 +54.632 25 21 23 Marcel Schrötter Bimota 27 +56.401 24 22 45 Scott Redding Kalex 27 +56.974 7 23 22 Alessandro Andreozzi Speed Up 27 +59.679 29 24 14 Ratthapark Wilairot Suter 27 +1:16.201 23 25 54 Mattia Pasini FTR 27 +1:16.352 22 26 28 Román Ramos FTR 27 +1:18.354 20 27 19 Xavier Siméon Tech 3 27 +1:26.234 12 28 63 Mike Di Meglio Kalex 27 +1:29.530 16 29 57 Eric Granado Motobi 26 +1 lap 31 30 97 Rafid Topan Sucipto Speed Up 25 +2 laps 30 Ret 82 Elena Rosell Speed Up 17 Accident 32 Ret 30 Takaaki Nakagami Kalex 14 Retirement 3 Ret 5 Johann Zarco Motobi 10 Accident 10 Source:

Moto3 Pos No Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 52 Danny Kent KTM 24 45:05.891 7 25 2 11 Sandro Cortese KTM 24 +0.056 4 20 3 63 Zulfahmi Khairuddin KTM 24 +0.114 17 16 4 41 Brad Binder Kalex KTM 24 +0.431 15 13 5 55 Héctor Faubel FTR Honda 24 +4.371 16 11 6 96 Louis Rossi FTR Honda 24 +7.605 9 10 7 84 Jakub Kornfeil FTR Honda 24 +14.931 14 9 8 25 Maverick Viñales FTR Honda 24 +18.495 5 8 9 31 Niklas Ajo KTM 24 +23.180 22 7 10 39 Luis Salom Kalex KTM 24 +23.245 3 6 11 65 Philipp Öttl Kalex KTM 24 +27.532 26 5 12 58 Juan Francisco Guevara FTR Honda 24 +30.331 21 4 13 27 Niccolò Antonelli FTR Honda 24 +31.255 8 3 14 19 Alessandro Tonucci FTR Honda 24 +34.660 10 2 15 28 Josep Rodríguez FGR Honda 24 +50.522 30 1 16 42 Álex Rins Suter Honda 24 +50.554 18 17 30 Giulian Pedone Suter Honda 24 +51.725 28 18 5 Romano Fenati FTR Honda 24 +51.826 11 19 61 Arthur Sissis KTM 24 +52.970 19 20 32 Isaac Viñales FTR Honda 24 +57.930 23 21 89 Alan Techer TSR Honda 24 +1:00.758 24 22 29 Luca Amato Kalex KTM 24 +1:47.794 20 23 51 Kenta Fujii TSR Honda 24 +1:47.977 33 24 80 Armando Pontone Ioda 23 +1 lap 31 Ret 8 Jack Miller Honda 19 Accident 25 Ret 9 Toni Finsterbusch Honda 19 Accident 27 Ret 99 Danny Webb Mahindra 18 Retirement 34 Ret 44 Miguel Oliveira Suter Honda 15 Accident 2 Ret 7 Efrén Vázquez FTR Honda 15 Accident 6 Ret 95 Miroslav Popov Mahindra 9 Retirement 35 Ret 17 John McPhee KRP Honda 9 Retirement 29 Ret 94 Jonas Folger Kalex KTM 7 Retirement 1 Ret 26 Adrián Martín FTR Honda 7 Retirement 13 Ret 3 Luigi Morciano Ioda 4 Retirement 32 Ret 12 Álex Márquez Suter Honda 3 Accident 12 Source:

Notes Marc Márquez's comeback from 33rd to the win was the biggest comeback in all of the history in the Championship.

Dani Pedrosa, who made the pole position in MotoGP, started the race from the pit lane because he entered to the boxes for a bike change because the tarmac was drying, like Alvaro Bautista, Nicky Hayden and Cal Crutchlow. The Spanish rider, despite this, won the race after Jorge Lorenzo crashed heavily when the Yamaha rider tried to lap James Ellison.

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP) Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round eighteen has concluded.

Riders' Championship standings Rider Points 1 Jorge Lorenzo 350 2 Dani Pedrosa 332 3 Casey Stoner 254 4 Andrea Dovizioso 218 5 Álvaro Bautista 178

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Honda 412 2 Yamaha 386 3 Ducati 192 4 ART 100 5 FTR 43

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

References