125: Terol wins, Faubel falls at wet Jerez
Nico Terol has won a wet 125cc Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez after a close battle with Bankia Aspar team-mate Hector Faubel, which ended with an accident for Faubel on the very last lap.
After two dry days at Jerez, rain arrived in Spain on Sunday morning and although the rain had been reduced to a light drizzle by the start of the 125cc race, the track remained wet throughout the 23 racing laps.
Terol, last year's world championship runner-up and winner from pole in round one of 2011 at Losail, blasted past pole sitter Sandro Cortese on the run to turn one and - in what looked like a repeat of Qatar - began pulling away.
Faubel, who has returned to 125 after three seasons in the 250/Moto2 class, spent the early laps trapped behind battling duo Efren Vasquez and Miguel Oliveira. He passed them both on the brakes on lap 3, then instructed them to tuck in behind him and try and catch Terol, rather than constantly bicker over second.
It worked, for Faubel at least, who immediately began taking chunks out of Terol's two-second lead and caught the race leader on lap seven. Faubel seized the lead soon after, but couldn't drop Terol, who stalked his fellow Spaniard and retook the advantage just before the halfway mark.
The rain got worse during the second half of the race, perhaps putting doubt into Terol's mind, and he was caught and passed for a second time by Faubel.
Terol's victory pass then came into turn one at the start of the penultimate lap, after which the #18 kept Faubel at arm's length. Faubel's race then got much worse when he fell on the last lap and crossed the line in eleventh.
That costly mistake put Red Bull Ajo Aprilia's Jonas Folger into second place, the German celebrating his second-ever rostrum and first since Le Mans in 2009, while Frenchman Johann Zarco took third for Avant-AirAsia-Ajo Derbi.
Rookie Oliveira crashed trying to stay with Faubel early in the race, while Vasquez and Cortese also exited the podium battle, after falling late in the race.
Two British riders produced memorable rides in the tricky conditions with full-season rookies Danny Kent and Taylor Mackenzie claiming fourth and fifth places.
Marcel Schrotter claimed Mahindra's first world championship points with 13th. Team-mate Danny Webb crashed out.
Spanish Grand Prix - Jerez:
1. Terol (Aprilia) 23 laps
2. Folger (Aprilia) +17.446s
3. Zarco (Derbi) +23.955s
4. Kent (Aprilia) +32.883s
5. Mackenzie (Aprilia) +34.713s
6. Cortese (Aprilia) +51.515s
7. Kornfeil (Aprilia) +54.920s
8. Ono (KTM) +1m 0.164s
9. Vinales (Aprilia) +1m 0.186s
10. Khairuddin (Derbi) +1m 0.399s
18. Stafford (Aprilia) +1m 30.952s
Webb (Mahindra) DNF
