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The Fiat
Yamaha Team's Jorge Lorenzo produced one of the rides of
his life to take a superb win in Spain yesterday, the
grandeur of a full-to-bursting Jerez providing a fitting
amphitheatre for his first MotoGP win on home soil.
Valentino Rossi finished third, making it a sixteenth
double podium for the Fiat Yamaha pair since 2008.
Lorenzo got a bad start and had dropped from second to
fifth by the second lap, as he struggled to find a
rhythm with a full fuel tank. On lap five he was able to
pass Casey Stoner and then, five laps on, Nicky Hayden
but he looked destined to stay in third as he languished
1.5 seconds adrift of Rossi, who was in turn the same
distance from Pedrosa. With a third of the race to go
however the Spaniard picked up pace, suddenly the
fastest man on track as he stormed up on his team-mate.
On lap 22 he despatched the Italian but with only five
laps left and a two second gap a victory still looked
unlikely. The tenacious youngster was not giving up
however in pursuit of a sixth premier-class win and he
rapidly gained on his fellow Spaniard to bring himself
within striking distance on his penultimate lap. His
first attempt to pass resulted in a dramatic moment as
they both momentarily looked like running off track and
in the end he had to leave it to the last lap to make
the definitive move, passing Pedrosa on the brakes at
the end of the back straight and crossing the line 0.543
seconds ahead. Lorenzo, who turns 23 on Tuesday,
celebrated in hilarious style by leaping into the lake
in the middle of the circuit, much to the rapture of the
home fans who were already celebrating Spanish wins in
the 125cc and Moto2 classes earlier in the day.
Rossi was happy to make the podium, having struggled all
weekend to overcome his injured shoulder and set-up
problems with his M1. The World Champion got a great
start from the second row and was second behind Pedrosa
for most of the race. He stayed in touch in the early
stages but began to drop back as his bike started to
slide, eventually giving best to his charging team-mate
and settling for the final podium spot and a valuable 16
points, 0.4 seconds behind Pedrosa.
The MotoGP World Championship is now led by Lorenzo who
has 45 points, while Rossi is four points off him in
second. The riders now have a three-week break before
the French round at Le Mans on 23rd May.
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1st Time: 45'17.538
"It has always been one of my dreams to win a MotoGP
race in Spain and this was like a movie, everything that
could possibly happen did! It was a very hard race
because I made such a bad start and then found it very
difficult in the first laps - I gave myself a tough job
to do. After that I started to feel better and rode like
a demon to get to the front. Once I passed Valentino I
knew that I couldn't take it easy, I had to try
everything to win and it was all I could think about. I
had a great fight with Dani and in one moment we nearly
crashed so I had to try again, on the very last lap! I
know it's better to win races calmly, from the front,
but lately that hasn't been the way for us and I have
had to fight on every lap. I saw the lake on Thursday
and thought it would be funny to jump in and I think the
fans liked it, but I didn't really think about how heavy
I'd be with wet leathers and for a minute I thought I
wasn't going to get out! This has been an amazing day, I
can't believe I've achieved this dream of mine, in front
of all the Spanish fans at this magical place."
Valentino Rossi - Position: 3rd Time: +0.890
"This just wasn't our race this year. We have struggled
all weekend, first with my shoulder and then with the
bike, and in the race today I couldn't do any more than
third. I got a great start and was fast with the new
tyre, I tried to go with Dani but then I started to
slide a lot and I just had to play it safe. I made no
mistakes and I'm happy about my race in the
circumstances, these 16 points are very important. At
the end I had a front-row seat to the Spanish party and
I admit I was sorry not to be involved, Jorge did a
great job today and I think it was very exciting for all
the fans. I want to say thank you to Dr. Costa and all
the staff at the Clinica Mobile, plus everyone back in
Italy who has worked on my shoulder to allow me to be
able to race this weekend. I will hopefully be back to
full strength in Le Mans so I'm looking forward to
that."
Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager, Lorenzo
"It's fantastic to win this race in this way. The race
itself was amazing, especially the last ten laps; a
fight on the edge. Before the race started our target
was just to be on the podium again and we managed the
highest step, so we could not ask for more! Jorge was so
fast at the end of the race, really amazing. We have
wondered why he seems to get much stronger at the end of
races; I think it's a combination of his riding style
and confidence, because from a technical point of view
there doesn't seem to be anything wrong. Apart from a
less than perfect start, he controlled the bike very
well during and kept a very good pace. He was able to
keep the pace at the beginning and never gave up; he
just got better. The target for the season remains the
same, to keep aiming for the podium every weekend. We
all know there are a lot of great riders out there and
they all want to win, so it won't be easy. We have
always been confident about our potential and now we are
even more so. Well done to Jorge and all the team."
Davide Brivio - Team Manager, Rossi
"Considering his recent injury we can see this as a very
good result. The shoulder was okay and in fact the
setting was the bigger problem, but the team did a great
job to improve it as much as they could and we are happy
that we made it onto the podium. Valentino got a
fantastic start and was fast in the early stages but
later on he couldn't keep pace with Lorenzo and Pedrosa
so 16 points is good for us today. We have some work to
do for Le Mans, when we hope Valentino will be back to
full fitness. Well done to Jorge and all his side of the
garage, he did a great race today."
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