Lorenzo takes another Portuguese win

From motogp.com

Jorge Lorenzo won from pole position for the third year in succession at Estoril as he took victory at the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal on Sunday, finishing ahead of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.

The Fiat Yamaha rider, for whom this was an eighth victory in his title-winning 2010 campaign, got the better of his rival and team-mate Rossi as they battled early on and when he took the lead on the 17th of 28 laps he did not look back, eventually taking the chequered flag 8.629 secs. clear of the Italian.

"On the warm-up lap I could see there were still a few wet parts and I knew that I was going to have to be careful at the beginning,” said Lorenzo of the lingering conditions from a weekend that had seen the premier class riding on a wet track up until the race.

“I got a great start and was in the lead but eventually Valentino overtook me and then off he went. He had a better pace than me then and I couldn't go with him. As the track got drier I found my pace improving and then step-by-step I closed the gap and was able to get past him. At that point I felt really good and I am so happy to win for the third time here at Estoril.”

It was Lorenzo’s first win since the Brno round, and leaves him on course to still be able to beat Rossi’s 2008 record points haul (373) in a single season in MotoGP with one round to go.

"I am happy about this weekend. We worked really well on the bike on the wet and this morning I was the fastest in the warm up, if it had been a wet race I could have been very competitive,” said Rossi. “For the dry we started blind so I had to try to take some risks at the beginning because the setting was okay, but it was not enough because when Jorge got into his rhythm he was faster than me, I had no way to fight with him. I tried to stay with him but he was too fast.”

The Italian brought home his factory M1 in a lonely second position for his 10th podium at Estoril in 11 visits as he finished almost 18 seconds ahead of Dovizioso, who had engaged in a thrilling battle to the very finish with Marco Simoncelli for the final podium position. It was the Repsol Honda rider who edged it – by just 0.059 secs. – to take his seventh podium of the season and leave the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider still looking for his first rostrum in the premier class.

“To be back on the podium is so important for us and I’d like to thank my team and fans for their support this weekend," the third place finisher said. "We can’t be completely happy with our pace today because we were a long way from the front two riders, but overall the result is positive for us. The situation at Estoril has been strange for the whole weekend with every session being held in wet conditions and third position was the best we could have done today.

"It was quite an aggressive battle with Simoncelli but it has always been like this with him, so I needed to have a strategy for the last lap. He was faster than me in T3 and T4 and every time into the chicane he overtook me, but I knew that it was possible to take him out of the last corner because I had a bit more speed onto the straight, so this was my plan - and it worked."

Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden placed fifth after coming close to the podium, the American just 0.620 secs. behind Simoncelli, while Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the top seven, both within three seconds of Hayden.

On his return to racing after missing the past three Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) came in eighth, with Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) inside the top 10.

Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) were the final three riders to finish the race.

Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) suffered the bitter disappointment of crashing out at turn 13 on lap five as he pushed hard while in third position, while Pramac Racing pair Aleix Espargaró and Carlos Checa both failed to finish too, the former crashing on lap one and the latter pitting in with an arm pump problem with 15 laps remaining.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was unable to take his starting grid position of fifth after crashing on the sighting lap and dislocating his left ankle. The American is hopeful however of being fit to race in the final round of the season at Valencia next weekend.

The battle for the runner-up spot in the Championship will now be determined next weekend, with Pedrosa on 236 points and Rossi on 217 and the only two who can now possibly end the campaign in second.

Stefan Bradl’s first podium result in the Moto2 class was a hard fought victory on Sunday as the Viessmann Kiefer Racing rider won from the third row of the starting grid, in a thoroughly engrossing bwin Grande Premio de Portugal at Estoril.

Bradl, whose last World Championship race win came at Motegi in the 125cc class in 2008, powered through to take victory ahead of Alex Baldolini by a margin of just 0.068 secs. after the duo had battled closely in the final stages of the race. It was a contest that was ridden on a track that dried rapidly throughout the course of the race as the Moto2 field opted to set off on slick tires, having ridden predominantly on wets in the practice sessions.

For Caretta Technology Race Dept rider Baldolini second place signified the first World Championship podium of his career in his 143rd Grand Prix start, after he had led the race for a period.

At just over 2.7 secs. further back another fantastic battle played out behind the duo and it was Alex de Angelis who took third place. For the JiR Moto2 rider it was his third successive top-three result.

Marc Márquez opened up a 17-point lead at the top of the 125cc World Championship over Nico Terol with just a single round remaining thanks to his 10th win of the season at Estoril on Sunday.

Finishing ahead of title rivals Terol (who placed second) and Pol Espargaró (10th), the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider came from the back of the grid to record what will be looked back upon as one of the definitive performances of his fledgling career.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 46:17.962
2. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +8.629
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda +26.475
4. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +26.534
5. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati +27.154
6. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda +28.297
7. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +30.109
8. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda +44.947
9. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +1:13.649
10. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +1:17.721
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +1:17.908
12. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda +1:33.025
13. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki +1:39.752
Not Classified
Carlos CHECA (SPA) Pramac Ducati
Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati
Not Starting
Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati
Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha

MotoGP Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 358
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 236
3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 217
4. Casey STONER (Ducati) 205
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 195
6. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 163
7. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 163
8. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 115
9. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 110
10. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 100
11. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 99
12. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 82
13. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 78
14. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 60
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 51
16. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 44
17. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 43
18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 11
19. Roger Lee HAYDEN (Honda) 5
20. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 4
21. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (Yamaha) 1