MOTOGP: Jorge Lorenzo increases his lead at the top
Jorge Lorenzo won the fifth Grand Prix of the season on Sunday at Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. This is his fifth win of the season, out of seven races so far, which puts him in quite a favourable position to win this year’s MotoGP Driver’s championship. Dani Pedrosa of Repsol Honda stood second while Casey Stoner of Ducati came in third. Wataru Yoshikawa, Rossi’s replacement for the time he is injured, came in last, while Marco Simoncelli and Aleix Espargaro did not finish the race.
This was Lorenzo’s third win in a row, as he emerged as winner in Assen as well as in Silverstone. This has been a marvellous run by the young Spaniard as he won all the three races from the pole position. This is a clear indication that the FIAT Yamaha is running fast this season, while there is not a lot of challenge left in the season, with the absence of Valentino Rossi due to injury. Lorenzo was also able to win both of his home GP’s this season, as his Spanish counterpart Dani Pedrosa failed to impress the home crowd. Former champion Casey Stoner of Australia is having a lot of problems with his Ducati bike, but things seem to be getting better for the team as he showed consistency by coming on the podium for two successive races.
The start of the race was expected as Dani Pedrosa, yet again, started from the second row of the grid and accelerated faster than the rest of the group to take the lead in the first corner. However, he ran wide and by the end of the first lap, Dani was in the 9th position on the track. Pedrosa then started to overtake all the riders who went past him and soon came in the third position in the early laps of the Grand Prix.
The initial competition to Lorenzo came from his Spanish counterpart Aleix Espargaro of Pramac Racing. He overtook Andrea Dovizioso, the Repsol Honda driver, to take the second position and was soon pushing Jorge Lorenzo for the first spot. Espargaro had his moment in the third lap of the GP as he overtook Lorenzo for a short period. The short run of Espargaro came to an abrupt end when he crashed out of the race in lap six, while pushing hard for the first spot. While Casey Stoner also had a slight misfortune, as he ran off the track too while chasing Espargaro for the second spot.
The deciding moment of the race came in lap 14 when Dovizioso crashed while pushing Lorenzo for the first position as the Spaniard showed a lot of composure and mental strength while facing the pressure exerted by the Repsol Honda driver. Dovizioso rejoined the race, but moved back to the back of the grid, and his race for the title seemed to be over. Marco Simoncelli also crashed out on the same lap, although he was in a comfortable sixth position at that moment.
With these challenges removed, Jorge Lorenzo had a smooth race till the finish. The MotoGP fans saw the battle between Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Randy De Puniet for the remaining two positions on the podium. Soon, Pedrosa and Stoner managed to get a lead from De Puniet, while Lorenzo also seemed to be moving away. Eventually, the race ended with another victory of Jorge Lorenzo, while Pedrosa came second and Casey Stoner got the third and final spot on the podium. Nicky Hayden, Loris Capirossi and Marco Melandri also finished in the top 10 positions, but they generally failed to impress the crowd.
With this result, Jorge Lorenzo has gained a very comfortable lead in the leader board, as he is now on 165 points. His closest rival and his Spanish counterpart, Dani Pedrosa, is in the second place, on 113 points, 52 points behind the leader. But, there is still a long way to go in the season, as 11 more races await the riders. If Jorge Lorenzo keeps up his concentration throughout this long MotoGP season, there is no doubt that he can win the drivers’ championship.
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