Lorenzo wins again in Catalunya

From motogp.com

Jorge Lorenzo became the first Yamaha rider to win three successive premier class races from pole position since Eddie Lawson did so in 1986 when he took his fifth win of the 2010 campaign at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya on Sunday.

The Spanish rider is now 52 points clear at the top as he continued his phenomenal run of form in taking his second win on home soil this season.

Last season Lorenzo was involved in the battle of the year with team-mate Valentino Rossi as he finished second in a thrilling encounter, and he admitted that his first premier class win at Montmeló on Sunday had an extra special feel.

"This is very special,” said the 23 year-old. “After losing so closely last year I was happy but not completely so and today I can say I am completely happy, winning here at my home race.”

Lorenzo was involved in a fight with Andrea Dovizioso early in the race, with Casey Stoner also close on his tail. The Italian crashed out on lap 14 however as he pushed to keep up with Lorenzo, leaving the race winner with over a five-second advantage on Dani Pedrosa who finished second.

“It was very difficult today because it was so hot and the front tire was sliding a lot. I thought I was going to have a big battle with Dovizioso because he was pushing very hard but then he crashed and I was alone; it was lucky for me because then I was able to take it more gently to the finish,” said Lorenzo, who went on to explain that he was also very pleased with how controlled his ride was.

“I think I rode a clever race today. I am so grateful to my team and to everyone at Yamaha and Bridgestone because they are working so hard to make our bike competitive at every track. I also want to say thank you to all the fans that came to watch today, it is a great feeling for me to win here in front of them all,” he concluded.

Pedrosa’s second place at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya maintained his second position in the World Championship standings, and left the Repsol Honda rider extremely satisfied with the consistency of taking back-to-back podiums.

Having won in round four at Mugello Pedrosa then finished eighth at Silverstone, but bounced back to take second place at Assen, a result he repeated on Sunday in his home race. It is the kind of regularity in results he is looking for, and the 24 year-old stated: “We’ve linked two good results together which was our target and now we must maintain this consistency and fight for the win at the next races.”

Starting from the second row at Montmeló Pedrosa shot into the lead for Turn 1 but drifted wide coming out of it, which saw him drop well down the order to as low as 11th in lap 1.

“I made a really good start and was leading towards Turn 1,” he explained. “I had a bit of a front end shake on the way to the first corner but I didn’t think anything of it until I hit the brakes and for a moment there was nothing. I was surprised because it was not such a big shake, but then I pumped a few times and it came back. By then it was too late and I had to run wide.

"I took it slowly to get back on track because I didn’t want to be to be penalized (for cutting the corner).”

Pedrosa then did a quick and efficient job of working his way back up, and by lap 6 he was in third place.

“I tried to recover as quickly as possible and make up the positions I’d lost," he said. "I got past Casey when he made a mistake and we raced together for many laps. I was pushing as hard as possible but we had a bit of a front end issue through the race and it was closing in the corners - I think many riders were having this problem today though. I was able to hang on until the end of the race though and I’m happy enough with second place after that first lap.”

Stoner’s second consecutive podium finish was another step in the right direction for the Ducati Team rider, who felt that without a small mistake on lap 6 he could have challenged Lorenzo for victory.

He was running in third and battling with Andrea Dovizioso as the pair kept a close check on leader Lorenzo, when a slight detour off track dropped him to fifth. Stoner recovered over the remainder of the race to take third, but felt he had the pace to run at the very front.

“Without a small mistake of my own I think we could have been pushing for the lead for most of the race,” he said. “We had the pace to do that and the bike felt quite good, but unfortunately I just got the draft of both of them going into that turn, and the slipstream coming off the back of them buffered me a bit and brought the rear of the bike up. There was no way I was going to stop for that corner. So I thought it was better to play it safe and not hit anyone and finish the race.

“I’m a little bit disappointed because I thought I could at least have been second. I thought I had the pace to close down on the front two but unfortunately I just couldn’t overtake the people in front of me and that was our biggest battle today. We’ll look forward to next week and try and solve these issues, but we’re feeling a lot more confident with the bike.

"Dani got all his exits right, he was braking quite consistently but with the gaps he was pulling out of every corner into the next one it was just impossible to close. I was already having small problems with the front end which was wanting to close, so there was no sense in going in there and risking it by doing a daring manoeuvre on the brakes and bringing us both down. It was better for me to pick my point and try and get past, but he didn’t make any mistakes and I give him credit for that.”

Fourth place and his best result of the campaign so far went to Randy De Puniet after yet another impressive ride on the satellite RC212V of the LCR Honda team, and in fifth with a superb ride was rookie Álvaro Bautista as he produced a magnificent effort on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) continued his progress with sixth place on another new circuit, and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team), Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) – on his return from a dislocated shoulder – and Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) all finished inside the top 10, with Dovizioso eventually finishing 14th.

Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Ducati) suffered disappointment in his home race when he crashed out on lap 6.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) crashed out when in sixth as he chased his best premier class finish to date.

Lorenzo now has 165 points with Pedrosa on 113 in second. Dovizioso remains third and is on 91, with Hayden, De Puniet and Stoner all leapfrogging the absent Valentino Rossi to fill positions four to six.

Yuki Takahashi took his first GP victory since 2006 on Sunday at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya as he won an action-packed and highly eventful Moto2 race. The Japanese rider of the Tech 3 Racing team won from second place on the grid, profiting from a mistake by Andrea Iannone who was penalized for overtaking when the yellow flags were out.

Takahashi crossed the line 5.037 secs. clear of Thomas Luthi and Julian Simon, who fought to the last corner with Lüthi edging it by just 0.163 secs. for his third successive podium and in spite of a recently operated on collarbone. Simón’s third place was his third podium of the campaign.

The race result means Toni Elías, fifth on Sunday, remains at the top of the standings on 111 points, with Lüthi second on 94 and Simón third on 77.

Marc Márquez became the youngest ever rider to take four successive Grand Prix wins on Sunday when he triumphed in the 125cc Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. Taking the record off Valentino Rossi, the 17 year-old Spaniard won by a comfortable margin as he underlined his dominance of the category with victory from pole.

The result moved Márquez onto 132 points and into top spot in the standings, with Sunday's third place finisher Pol Espargaró now second just a point behind.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 43:22.805
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda +4.754
3. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati +4.956
4. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda +18.057
5. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +21.361
6. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +21.503
7. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki +24.181
8. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati +27.941
9. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +28.046
10. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +32.439
11. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +38.406
12. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati +58.257
13. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (JPN) Interwetten Honda +1:09.348
14. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda +1:32.402
15. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (JPN) Fiat Yamaha +1:35.237
Not Classified
Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda
Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati

MotoGP Point Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 165
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 113
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 91
4. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 69
5. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 69
6. Casey STONER (Ducati) 67
7. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 61
8. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 59
9. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 39
10. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 39
11. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 39
12. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 34
13. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 28
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 25
15. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 25
16. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 24
17. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 18
18. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 4
19. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (Yamaha) 1