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Jorge Lorenzo ran away with the British Grand
Prix at Silverstone this afternoon, storming
home to win by 6.743 seconds to take his first
UK win in the premier class. The Fiat Yamaha
Team's sole representative in the absence of the
injured Valentino Rossi, Lorenzo led from the
first lap to come home ahead of Andrea Dovizioso
and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies, who took his
maiden podium in MotoGP.
The Mallorcan got a strong start
from pole position and led out of turn one but it
was not all plain sailing as he became embroiled in
a feisty first-lap battle with Dani Pedrosa. The
pair traded the lead several times but it was
Lorenzo who eventually led over the line and he was
unchallenged from there on in, gradually extending
his lead lap-by-lap and leaving his rivals trailing
in the wake of his blue and white M1. With two laps
remaining the gap to Dovizioso stood at more than
eight seconds but Lorenzo slowed down on the final
two laps to ensure he came home safely, which he
duly did to the delight of the 70,000 British fans
who are quickly adopting the spirited Spaniard as
one of their own.
His third win of the season and
another 25-point haul extends Lorenzo's lead to 37
points over Dovizioso in second, with Pedrosa now
third. The absent Rossi falls to fourth in the
championship but Lorenzo's consistency ensures that
the Fiat Yamaha Team still leads the Teams'
standings and Yamaha the Manufacturers'. The MotoGP
paddock now faces a quick turnaround in order to get
to Assen in time for next weekend's Dutch TT, which
is as always a Saturday race.
Jorge Lorenzo
"This was an important
day for me and an important win, because I felt so
strong and I enjoyed riding my Yamaha so much. I had a
different feeling today; I felt that it was going to be
a good race. It was quite hard to be fast at the start
and the first lap with Dani was difficult, but once I
got past him I felt very relaxed and comfortable. I
thought he would follow me for a bit longer but he
didn't and then I was on my own, so I just had to focus
on myself; I didn't even know who was behind me! I never
dreamt of taking three wins from five races but here we
are and I am feeling very strong mentally at this
moment. I want to thank my team, Yamaha and Bridgestone
for this victory. The Beatles celebration was something
fun for the fans, I love their music and I thought it
was nice to make a homage to them, since we're in
England!"
Wilco Zeelenberg
(Team Manager, Lorenzo)
"This was a great
performance by Jorge. The start was a little bit
interesting, with us on the hard Bridgestone and some of
the others on the softer one, but Jorge rode so well,
kept his head and brought it home safely. Our bike is
working very well and it was great to see Spies taking a
podium on the Yamaha too, well done to him. It is
impressive to have a 37-point gap at this stage but now
we have four more races in very close succession so we
can't relax. Well done to Jorge and to everyone for
today."
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