Jorge Lorenzo takes hard-fought podium at Phillip Island

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders got swept up in an unbelievable fight around the Phillip Island circuit today for the first four places at the Australian Grand Prix. In the end it was Jorge Lorenzo who finished second ahead of Valentino Rossi in fourth in a nail-bitingly tense race, securing vital points for the MotoGP Championship.

Jorge had a good launch from third on the grid and immediately overtook Marquez at the start. With Rossi stuck behind Cal Crutchlow, the number two in the championship standings made most of the situation and powered passed Iannone in corner eight for the lead, but had to relinquish his position when they reached Doohan corner.

What happened over the next two laps was a flurry of activity. The top three protagonists consisting of Lorenzo, Iannone and Marquez switched position multiple times, before the Yamaha rider managed to take over the lead for a second time with 25 laps to go. This time he made it stick and quickly tried to check out.

It looked like the race leader was soon to be visited by Rossi, Marquez and Iannone once more, until the chasing group started to fight amongst themselves. Lorenzo put his head down one more time and increased the gap to 1.2s with 15 laps to go. However, despite his consistency, Marquez reached the back of his bike two laps later and the following swapping of places between the Spaniards allowed Iannone and Rossi to catch up.

Realising the threat that came from behind Lorenzo put in a brave move in Lukey Heights and took over the lead with six laps to go. He tried to build up a solid lead, but again it wasn‘t to last. He defended his leading position the best he could, but was caught in the end and had to settle for second, +0.249s from the front.

Today‘s results see Lorenzo’s teammate Rossi hold the lead in the championship with 296 points and an 11-point margin over Jorge in second place.

JORGE LORENZO
I think this was the most exciting race of the season and for sure one of the best in the last few years. To have four of the fastest riders fighting for victory in all the corners for the whole race is unbelievable. To be honest, I didn‘t expect that Andrea and Valentino would be able to stay with us. I also expected Marc to be stronger than me, but in the race I saw that he had some problems in some corners and so when I passed him again I tried to push to the limit and create an advantage, but it wasn‘t enough. In the slow corners I lost out a little bit, because my front tyre‘s life was going down, so I couldn‘t lean in completely, so he was able to recover a lot of time in these corners. I didn‘t want to crash in the last braking zone and that‘s probably why Marc was able to brake later and take the victory. It‘s a really good feeling to close in on Valentino in the championship. The bike was working really well and we did a good job throughout the whole weekend. It was just a pity that this front tyre on the bike was struggling a little bit, but we are a step closer in the championship. It could have been more but it also could have been less, but it‘s enough. At some point you have to be happy, look ahead to continue delivering this good work during the last two races.

Source: Yamaha Racing