Jorge Lorenzo fights epic race-long battle to 2nd at Silverstone

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo fought an epic battle today in the British Grand Prix to finish second in a thrilling, edge of the seat race.

Starting from third on the grid Lorenzo had a flying start off the line, taking the holeshot into the first corner. He put his head down trying to clear off at the front but wasn’t able to shake off his rival Marc Marquez who followed close behind.

The two raced less than half a second apart until with seven laps remaining, when Marquez made his move at Stow corner, taking the lead. Lorenzo tried to pass back at Vale, but was unable to make it stick.

With five laps left Marquez went wide, allowing Lorenzo to re-overtake him. He again tried to break away at the front, but two laps later Marquez put in an aggressive move going into Village.

Lorenzo tried to hold on to the lead but a near collision in the Loop forced him to fall back into second position. The pass cost him valuable time, leaving him to finish the race just 0.732 second behind to claim his 80th podium in the premier class.

The results see Lorenzo hold fourth in the championship, now on 157 points and 32 points behind teammate Rossi. Rossi remains in third, now on 189 points and just ten point behind Pedrosa in second.

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP will now move to San Marino for the next round at the Misano circuit in two weeks time.

Jorge Lorenzo – 2nd | +0.732 | 20 Laps
“Knowing what this weekend was like, this race is much better than we expected. I made a really good start and pushed 100%, more than ever, so I am really proud of my riding. The only thing is that here we probably don’t have the best package. Though we did a really good job improving little by little and practice by practice, we were not able to have the same confortable pace as Marc. I was pushing a lot and maybe he was able to relax a little bit more. I was struggling a lot with my physical condition to keep the bike on two wheels and being able to ride these lap times. Finally I lost a lot of time when he touched me. I knew that he was going to try to overtake me in this corner in first gear on the right, but I didn’t let him enter. On the outside I opened the throttle and he touched me. In the next corner he touched me again as he went into the corner and I lost seven tenths of a second. We started the weekend 1.3 seconds slower than Marc and we finished the weekend with being just 7 tenths slower than Marc after twenty laps. That’s fantastic! Thanks to a very good job from my team, all together we improved the bike. I rode well from the first corner to the last one and I did my best. Unfortunately you can’t ride the Yamaha as aggressively as our rivals. You have to open your lines more else you lose corner speed. That’s a difference, but we have our strong points and they have theirs. It’s just unfortunate that in the braking areas it makes it a little harder to fight for me. We will try to improve the bike and win races.“

Source: Yamaha MotoGP