Jorge Lorenzo on top once again
Once again, Jorge Lorenzo reigned supreme after he took his fifth MotoGP victory of the season by winning the Catalunya Grand Prix yesterday. Dani Pedrosa finished second while Casey Stoner came home in third.
Lorenzo delighted the home crowd and moved 52 points clear at the top of the riders’ standings.
It was a contrast to the race of 2009, where Lorenzo was pipped to the race win by Valentino Rossi on the final bend after the closest battle of the year.
“This is very special. 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,” said Lorenzo. The 23-year-old had to face the challenge of Andrea Dovizioso early on during the grand prix, but when he crashed on lap 14, the race was virtually sewn up.
“It was very difficult today because it was so hot and the front tyre 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,” Lorenzo added.
At the start of the race, Lorenzo was passed by Pedrosa, who stormed off the line from the second row on the grid. He headed into turn one leading the pack, but went wide and fell down to 10th. The Honda bike is one of the quickest on the grid this year, and Pedrosa was able to recover and hold off a rejuvenated Stoner for second.
Pedrosa lies in second place in the standings, and made it consecutive second-place finishes yesterday. “I made a really good start and was leading towards turn one. 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 penalised [for cutting the corner],” said Pedrosa.
The Spaniard is happy with the consistency he is showing this season. “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.”
Like Pedrosa, Stoner made it back-to-back podium finishes, though he felt a mistake on lap six cost him the chance of fighting for the win. “Without a small mistake of my own I think we could have been pushing for the lead for most of the race.”
The Australian has endured a difficult start so far this season after issues with his bike, but the last two results have put the Ducati team on the right step. “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,” said Stoner.
Lorenzo was in a class of his own once he opened up the gap. “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 said.
Many are suggesting this year’s world championship would be won easily for Lorenzo once Rossi broke his leg at the Italian Grand Prix. Nothing is easy, and had Rossi been fit, even the great man wouldn’t be able to match Lorenzo.
Lorenzo challenged Rossi all the way last year, but this year, there isn’t going to be a challenger to Lorenzo, who is homing in on a maiden title.
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