MotoGP – Grand Prix at Catalunya: Jorge Lorenzo completes hat-trick
The stage was set for the Spanish inquisition as Lorenzo took to the field just a day after the Spanish team made its way into the semi-finals of the World Cup in South Africa and shortly before Rafael Nadal was set to play for the Wimbledon Singles Championship. So it was no surprise to see Jorge Lorenzo in pole position as the riders got ready to power through towards the tricky first turn at Catalunya. But as the red lights went out and the throttles were let loose, it was another Spaniard who was seen heading through to the corner at first place. Dani Pedrosa, who qualified at fourth spot made an amazing run to the front of the pack only to leave the braking too late. He ran it wide, feeding back into the field in tenth position just behind the Ducati of Nicky Hayden.
As the first lap was completed, it was the pole sitter Jorge Lorenzo who was leading the pack and was followed ever so closely by Andrea Dovizioso. Pedrosa was eager to make up for his mistake and was on a charge as he had already made back four positions to get into sixth by the end of the first lap.
It was in the third lap when Lorenzo suffered the only blemish in the race as Andrea Dovizioso overtook him to take the lead in the race. The Spaniard reclaimed his position in a sublime overtaking manoeuvre in just the next lap. From there on in, the pace from Lorenzo was unrelenting. It seemed like the only plan in his head was to set the bar high at the front and break the rest of the chasing pack. This saw the chasing pack behind him dwindle very fast. Soon, it was just a two horse race at the front where even Casey Stoner was left behind at the third spot.
Pedrosa, the only other Spaniard who had a realistic chance of winning the race, was making up for his first corner error as he moved into fifth by the end of lap 3. By the end of lap 5, he had made his way up to the fourth position only to see Casey Stoner make an error just ahead of him in third who lost two places to join in fifth. It seemed like duelling in the lead pack had already started showing signs of wear on his tyres. It took Stoner a lot of effort to take the fourth place as he stormed past Randy De Puniet on the straight, taking advantage of the horsepower of his Ducati.
It was all pretty incidents free until lap 14 as the riders looked to consolidate their margins over their rivals. But Marco Simoncelli crashed out from the sixth place as he was gaining ground on Randy De Puniet for the fifth place. The Italian was distraught after his crash as this would’ve handed him his best premier class finish to date. More importantly, lap 14 saw Andrea Dovizioso crash out from the second place as he was pushed to the limit to try and keep up with the blistering pace that Lorenzo was setting at the front.
This meant that Dani Pedrosa was handed the second place and Stoner came in at third as the two duelled it out to the finish. Their positions remained unchanged from her on in. At the front, Lorenzo now had a clear gap to his nearest rivals and he maintained the distance till the end of the race to complete his third consecutive win. This was also the first time that a Yamaha rider had taken three consecutive wins from pole position since Eddie Lawson in 1986. Randy De Puniet kept his cool and finished in fourth on his LCR Honda machine to give him and his team their best result of the season. The surprise of the race came from Alvaro Bautista as he finished in fifth on his Rizla Suzuki machine giving some semblance to a miserable season so far. He was followed closely by Ben Spies as he tried his best to make a last minute rush which saw him overtake Bautistas teammate Loris Capirossi on lap 22.
The end of the race extended celebrations from the Spanish fans as the top two steps were taken by Spaniards. The podium was a repeat of the Grand Prix at Assen a week ago as Casey Stoner joined the two in third place. In terms of the championship, Lorenzo now has a 53 point lead over Pedrosa and the riders must now feel the pressure to cut into his lead after they come back from a two week break to resume racing again at the Sachsenring Circuit in Germany.
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