Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo continued his unbroken premier class podium run at Jerez for the third year running today, taking second in the Grand Prix of Spain. Starting from pole, Lorenzo initially dropped to third, then swiftly moved up to second by lap three behind race leader Casey Stoner. The gap never grew to more than a second, then closed to just over 0.2 seconds in the last laps. Unfortunately by this point the soft front tyre choice left Lorenzo unable to make a pass. He crossed the line 0.947 seconds behind Stoner, taking 20 Championship points and as a result heads to Estoril leading the Championship by four points with a total of 45.
Ben Spies suffered a second disappointing race today, despite starting well the Texan was unable to find a good feeling from the front end of his M1 and was cautious to push to hard and risk a fall. He took the same result as in Qatar, finishing in 11th to take a further five Championship points, bringing his total to ten and 11th in the standings.
Today I knew it would be a very important decision on the grid to choose the right front tyre
Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time:+0.947
“Today I knew it would be a very important decision on the grid to choose the right front tyre. Finally we chose the soft one, unfortunately we were wrong and had a lot of problems during the race, I wasn’t as confident as in practice. Without good feelings to finish second is not so bad, we are still leading the Championship and have good motivation for Estoril.”
Ben Spies Position: 11th Time: +38.041
“I don’t really know what happened, I got off to a pretty good start from the line but after that I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike, it was a pretty pathetic race really for me. I’ve apologized to the team and we’ve had a long meeting about what I was feeling with the bike. I just wasn’t comfortable, I rode as hard as I could but the speed just wasn’t there. We need to find something because we can see the Yamahas are working well but my feeling with the bike is not great. It was a bad day at the office today.”
Wilco Zeelenberg
Team Manager “A very difficult weekend but a very good result, second place was the maximum we could get today. The front tyre was gone so an attack would have been a disaster at the end. We’re leading the Championship and we’re on to the next round. The team worked really hard here in constantly changing conditions to deliver a competitive bike for Jorge.”
Results
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Repsol Honda Team 45'33.897
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing + 00.947
3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team + 2.063
4. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha Tech3 + 2.465
5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Yamaha Tech3 + 18.100
6. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Honda Gresini + 21.395
7. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda + 28.637
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Team + 28.869
9. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Ducati Team + 34.852
10. Hector Barbera (SPA) Pramac Racing Team + 35.103
11. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing + 38.041
12. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Power Electronics Aspar + 1'12.728
13. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Came Iodaracing Project + 1'18.669
14. Mattia Pasini (ITA) Speed Master + 1'29.142
15. Ivan Silva (SPA) Avintia Racing + 1'32.478
16. Colin Edwards (USA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing + 1'40.577
17. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing After 1 laps
18. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Power Electronics Aspar Not classified (2 laps)
19. James Ellison (UK) Paul Bird Motorsport Not classified (3 laps)
20. Michele Pirro (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Not classified (9 laps)
21. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Avintia Racing Not starting
Championship Standings
1 Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 45
2 Casey Stoner (AUS) Repsol Honda Team 41
3 Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 36
4 Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha Tech3 26
5 Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Yamaha Tech3 22
6 Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Honda Gresini 19
7 Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Team 18
8 Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda 17
9 Valentino Rossi (ITA) Ducati Team 13
10 Hector Barbera (SPA) Pramac Racing Team 13
11 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing 10
12 Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Power Electronics Aspar 5
13 Colin Edwards (USA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 4
14 Randy De Puniet (FRA) Power Electronics Aspar 3
15 Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Came Iodaracing Project 3
16 Mattia Pasini (ITA) Speed Master 2
17 Yonny Hernandez (COL) Avintia Racing 2
18 Ivan Silva (SPA) Avintia Racing 1
