|
Jorge Lorenzo was untouchable once again in Portugal
this afternoon and took a stunning fourth win of the
season, 16 months on from his maiden MotoGP victory at
this same track. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino
Rossi had a disappointing day and came home a distant
fourth, although the Fiat Yamaha Team secured the Teams'
Championship title, the first leg of the ‘triple crown'.
22-year-old Lorenzo had looked invincible
all weekend and today was no different as he blasted off
from pole for the 35th time in his career, reaching turn one
in second place but regaining the lead a couple of corners
later. Wearing special ‘astronaut' leathers and helmet to
commemorate the Moon Landing and match the one-off white
‘Fiat Punto Evo' livery on his YZR-M1, the Mallorcan was
unchallenged from then on and stretched his lead until the
end, finishing a commanding 6.294 seconds clear of Casey
Stoner to take his 26th career win.
Rossi had struggled to match his
team-mate's pace all weekend and a problem with rear grip
plagued him today and compounded his difficulties. He
dropped to fourth on the first lap after starting from
second and was unable to make any headway into the gap to
Stoner and Pedrosa, eventually coming home some 13 seconds
behind the Spaniard. It was the Italian's 100th start for
Yamaha, from which he has won an incredible 43 times.
Yamaha are now assured of one of their
riders being crowned World Champion but with Rossi's lead
now cut to 18 points from Lorenzo in second, the tension is
mounting as to which one it will be. MotoGP now has a week
off before the ‘flyaway' double-header in Australia and
Malaysia.
Masahiko Nakajima - Fiat Yamaha
Team Director
"Today we have achieved the first objective of our season -
the Fiat Yamaha Team becoming 2009 Teams' Champion. I would
like to thank our riders, our team staff and YMC MotoGP
Group Engineers for their invaluable support, which has
allowed us to achieve this great result. My appreciation
also goes to our sponsors and technical partners, because
their contribution has been crucial for Yamaha and for our
Factory Team. We look forward to working with all of them in
the future and to being able to repay their support with
many more victories".
Jorge Lorenzo
"What a day! I'm so happy to win here again in the same
track where I won my first MotoGP race last year. I worked
so hard in the break on my fitness with my father and maybe
that's given me a little bit of extra speed, I certainly
felt so strong this weekend and it is great to win like this
after being top in every session as well. I got a good start
and it took me just a couple of corners to get past Dani and
take the lead, but I honestly didn't expect to be
unchallenged from then on or to finish with such a big gap.
This is a good track for me but I am fast more or less
everywhere now. The championship is closer now; it's still
not easy but we have nothing to lose! I'm proud that we have
won the Team Title and I want to say thanks and
congratulations to everyone. I liked my leathers and helmet
a lot this weekend and I wanted to celebrate Neil Armstong
and his landing on the moon so this is why I made this
‘moonwalk show' after the race!"
Valentino Rossi
"It was a very difficult race for me. I was never able to be
fast because I did not have enough grip in the rear and our
tyre did not work well, but I think it was more a problem of
setting. After a few laps I was in great difficulties and I
immediately understood that this was not going to be "our"
race. Throughout the practice sessions I had some problems
but I thought that today I would be able to at least stay
with Stoner and Pedrosa, but they made another step forward
for the race and then there was no chance for me. On Friday
I was three tenths off the pace and unfortunately this
stayed the same all weekend and in the race today. Here in
Estoril we struggled last year as well, so it might be that,
with our setting, the rear tyre gets very hot and this
causes a lack of grip. It is a pity that I am off the
podium, but we have three more races and they are three
great tracks. We must think race by race and we must work to
understand what the problem was today in order to make sure
that we fix it in time for Phillip Island".
Daniele Romagnoli
"We were confident today that we had a strong chance for a
good race, but we didn't expect such domination. We were
consistently fast through all the weekend but even so the
team made another improvement after qualifying and Jorge
rode the best he's ever ridden. Now the championship is even
more interesting and the last few races will bring great
attention on us all, but we're looking forward to the
challenge! Finally I want to say well done to everyone in
the team for winning the Team title again."
Davide Brivio
"In reality, we weren't really racing today. Valentino
experienced some problems, which meant that he was never
able to make the tyres work well and he was unable to be
competitive. We will go into these problems in detail in our
technical debrief later this afternoon. Valentino was bravo
to finish the race in a very difficult situation, but he
knew that taking points was key and we got 13 very important
points here. As a consequence of the entire season, which
has been dominated by the two Fiat Yamaha Team riders, we
have won the Team title today, which is the first step on
the road to our main goal".
|
