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Fiat
Yamaha superstars Valentino Rossi and Jorge
Lorenzo dominated an incredible Catalan Grand
Prix yesterday, delivering a show-stopping
performance from start to finish at Montmeló in
front of a packed house. It was the reigning
World Champion Rossi who finally emerged the
winner, taking a memorable 99th career victory
after a stunning last-corner pass on his
22-year-old team-mate, but the Fiat Yamaha pair
were separated by under one hundredth of a
second after 25 thrilling laps.
After running at a near identical pace all
weekend it always looked like being a
head-to-head between them and they set off in
grid order with Lorenzo leading from Rossi and
Casey Stoner. The Italian made his first move at
the end of the straight on lap four and passed
the Mallorcan into turn one, but all three
remained within half a second of each other
until four laps later, when the Yamaha duo on
their YZR-M1s began to pull away from Stoner,
quickly opening out a second’s gap and leaving
the rest of the field trailing in their wake.
With just a couple of tenths between them there
was no margin for error but at the end of the
back straight on lap thirteen Lorenzo saw a way
through and passed his team-mate to take the
lead.
They continued wheel to wheel until Rossi
made another move ten laps later, but the race
still wasn’t over and there were several more
nail biting changes of lead between them before
Lorenzo looked to have it sewn-up half way round
the final lap. The nine-time champion had one
more card to play on the youngster however and
edged his machine through in an inch-perfect
last corner challenge to take his ninth win in
all classes at this track.
With Stoner finishing third, the three
incredibly now have 106 points apiece after six
races, meaning something of a championship
restart for them at the Dutch TT in Assen in two
week’s time, a favourite track for both Rossi
and Lorenzo.
Valentino Rossi, 1st
“As we say in Italy, “Mamma Mia!” I think I can
honestly say that this was one of the best and
hardest wins of my career. Maybe Laguna last
year was more important but this was a great,
great victory because it went to the very last
corner and it’s a long time since that has
happened. I have dreamed about that move for the
last two weeks and today it worked and I am so
happy to have this 99th win. We did a perfect
job all weekend and my M1 and Bridgestone tyres
were brilliant, but we knew that Lorenzo was in
the same situation and for sure he was very
strong today. I had to be very brave and take it
right to the limit in order to beat him. This
victory today is more important than the 25
points and anyway now we all have the same, what
a championship this is! As well as thanking my
team, I especially want to dedicate this win to
my Crew Chief Jeremy Burgess because his mother
sadly died yesterday. I have to say thank you to
her and to him because without him, for sure, I
would never have arrived at 99 wins. Now I am
going to go to sleep for quite a long time
because I need to recover from this excitement!”
Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd
“This was an incredible battle today and a
brilliant show for everyone, I am happy to have
been a part of it. Of course I am sad to have
lost because I put my heart on my bike and in my
career I am more used to winning these last-lap
fights, but today Valentino was maybe a little
bit cleverer or a little bit braver than me at
the very end and he was able to beat me. In fact
during that last lap, after I passed him, I
expected him to pass me back on the brakes much
earlier but he didn’t come, and then I just
didn’t close the line enough on the final corner
and that was it. I am proud however because I am
young and I still have a lot to learn in this
class. My team have worked so well all weekend
so thanks to them, if we can continue as
strongly as this all season then who knows what
can happen?”
Davide Brivio, Team Manager
"This race deserves one of the top places in the
gallery of Valentino’s career. First of all, it
was great day for Yamaha because we dominated a
great race, with clean fighting and a great
show. Everyone has been talking about the fact
that there hasn’t been a last-lap overtake in 43
races but I think we answered that today! For
Valentino it is a very important victory and a
win like that is great motivation, but the best
thing for us is that it confirms what a good job
we have done on the set-up. On Friday morning we
made some significant modifications to the bike
so thanks to all the technicians, engineers and
the team because they are the ones that have
developed these solutions and this victory is
the best reward. To win a great race like this
you must have a rider like Valentino and a bike
and team like ours. The other riders are young
and they will soon learn how to do the same, but
for the time being Valentino is the only one who
can do it. Tomorrow we will do some testing. We
were looking forward to it, but in fact a lot of
the things that we would have tested we have
already tried out this weekend! Anyway, we will
be here again working hard to make our rider’s
life even better for the remainder of the
championship.”
Daniele Romagnoli, Team Manager
“What a race! It’s a great day for Jorge, for
the team and also a great day for Yamaha. It was
a fantastic battle, which I think everyone
enjoyed watching and seeing Jorge fight to the
end with Valentino was very special for our side
of the garage. It’s a very important result
because 20 points means we have the same points
as Valentino and Casey and now we can go to the
next race in a strong position. Hopefully we can
continue in this shape and maybe next time we
can reverse the podium position!”
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