Second place at Jerez for Jorge Lorenzo

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team dominated the scenes in Spain as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo set off from first and second place of the grid. They didn‘t relinquish the first two places once to any other riders and gave Yamaha a perfect one-two podium.

Jorge Lorenzo had a strong start and tucked in behind team-mate Rossi in second place. The local hero is known for being strong on the opening lap and built on the pressure on his fellow Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider. He was eager to find a way past the number 46 rider after a few attempts that weren‘t to last, but soon he had to focus on protecting his second place from a fast approaching Marc Marquez.

However, the race was far from over. With 10 laps to go Lorenzo was able to turn the tables on Rossi and started to close down the margin. It looked like a second battle for the win was about to take place when suddenly the Spaniard suffered from wheel spin on the long straight just as he started to reel in his team-mate. Keeping his head cool, Lorenzo finished the race calmly and secured his 100th premier class podium.

The team will be back on track tomorrow at the Circuito de Jerez for a one-day test.

Jorge Lorenzo
“The positive thing is that the Yamahas went better and also 20 points and second place is good for the championship. Because Rossi crashed in Austin, he is still behind in the championship standings and we made up some points to Marquez. The only thing is that we could have won the race without the problem on the front-straight. Going through the gears the bike didn‘t stop spinning and I couldn‘t fully open the throttle. Just when I started recovering metres on Rossi this problem started, so I had to slow down a lot and I didn‘t have the chance to fight with him for the victory, but sometimes this happens. Now Michelin have to find out what is going on. They improved the front tyre and now I am sure they’ll work on the rear to solve these kinds of issues.”

Source: Yamaha Racing