Lorenzo reigns in Spain

Jorge Lorenzo on his way to victory

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) took victory in the wet MotoGP race at the Gran Premio bwin de España after Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) crashed whilst leading. It was a Spanish one-two with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) claiming second position and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) in third.

The current MotoGP World Champion started from the front row and was able to pick up 25 points and claim his first victory of the 2011 season at the Gran Premio bwin de España. This result was his second successive win at the Andalusian circuit and a replica one-two with Pedrosa. The Mallorcan finished a clear 13.256s over his fellow compatriot after a chaotic race which was unpredictable until the very last lap.

(L to R) Dani Pedrosa (2nd), Jorge Lorenzo (1st) and Nicky Hayden (3rd)

In a race which was run in wet conditions, making it very slippery, Simoncelli was on his way to his first victory in the premier class with a three second advantage over Lorenzo. The Italian suffered a nasty highside at turn one, losing a potential debut win. Pedrosa had made a tentative start to his race but managed to get back in the hunt for the win. Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) had passed the Spaniard for second in the dying laps, but made a mistake and ended up in the gravel, losing 20 points.

It was the same story for Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who due to Spies’ error, was on course to take a rostrum place behind Pedrosa. However the American also ended up visiting the gravel trap and was unable to restart. It was Hayden who finished in third to take the first podium for Ducati Team this season and his second of his career with the team.

Qatar race winner Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) was victim to a mistake from Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) which ended his race prematurely. The Ducati rider who started from 12th, was up to fourth within the early laps and then joined the leading group. After passing Lorenzo, Stoner was his next target and as he made his maneuver on the Australian, he made it through on the inside and then lost control of his bike. His error caused a collision with Stoner, sending them both off. The Repsol Honda rider was unable to restart his bike, whilst the Italian was able to continue, albeit further down the field. Due to incidents further ahead, Rossi picked up 11 points for fifth place.

"When I arrived behind Stoner, I didn't want to overtake him in the moment of braking, but I braked a bit too deep compared to him, and I arrived too fast and I didn't have enough room to go on the outside so I tried to go on the inside to make less problems for both of us but unfortunately I lost the front and I also took him out," said Rossi.

"It's completely my mistake and I have to say sorry to Casey. I know that he's very angry because he didn't make any mistakes. I went straight to say sorry."

When Rossi apologized to Stoner in the Honda pit afterwards, television cameras caught the Australian asking Rossi about the health of his injured shoulder and suggesting his 'ambition outweighed his talent'. Rossi laughed off his rival's comments.

"I don't know, maybe he doesn't know exactly who I am!" Rossi said to Italia1 television. "But it's okay, it's fair enough, he's angry and I would be too. I've made a mistake and for me it was important to apologize. I'm not so interested in what he says."

Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was one place away from the rostrum, taking fourth position, his best result in MotoGP. The Japanese rider’s previous best finish had been seventh.

Hector Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team) built on his performance in Losail to finish sixth, ahead of Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) who after crashing during the race, was able to remount to take seventh place and pick up points in his second MotoGP race. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was able to take eighth place after similar fate as the Czech rider, when he crashed in a solid top five place. This was the British rider’s first race at the Jerez circuit in his rookie season.

Spanish Moto2 World Champion Toni Elías (LCR Honda) brought his bike home in ninth place with the final place in the top ten going to Rizla Suzuki’s John Hopkins, replacing the injured Ã�lvaro Bautista, after a long gap away from the series. Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) was 13th.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) who started from sixth made a promising start picking up a few places, but started to go backwards and then made a costly error when he slid off track into the gravel. The Italian finished last in 14th after coming into the pits to change his wet tires.

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