Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo tops in Mugello for 3rd win in a row; Rossi takes 3rd, Marquez crashes out

Barberino del Mugello (Italy), 31 May 2015:  Thousands of home fans of the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team gathered at the Autodromo del Mugello to see their dreams come true today. Not only did Jorge Lorenzo claim a flawless victory for the Gran Premio d’Italia,Yamaha‘s fifth of the season, but their local hero Valentino Rossi also battled his way onto podium. He secured third in a hard fought race, making it his sixth consecutive podium.

After a flying start from second on the grid, Lorenzo tucked in behind Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso to quickly make his intentions clear. He moved up from third to lead the way when he crossed the line for the first time. With a clear track ahead of him, the race went exactly as he planned. As his pit board signaled rival Marc Marquez‘s approach, he put the hammer down, setting a 1‘47.700, the fastest lap of race.

He gradually built a gap and remained untouchable for the rest of the race. Riding consistent laps in the low 1‘48s the Spaniard finished his perfect performance at the team‘s home GP with a 5.563s advantage. This win is Lorenzo‘s third win at the Mugello circuit in four years‘ time.

Starting from eighth on the grid, teammate Rossi lost time when he got caught up in the pack and finished the first lap in ninth. He quickly made his way through the field, hunting for Cal Crutchlow riding in sixth and overtaking him on lap eight. It took The Doctor four laps to close down a 2.5s gap to the group battling for second place. He immediately passed Dovizioso for fifth and went on chasing Dani Pedrosa, Marquez and Iannone.

Rossi had his mind set on the podium and, having watched Marquez crash out, he was quick to make a move on Pedrosa for third. He pushed hard to close in on Iannone, setting a personal best of 1.48.173, but was unable to catch his compatriot and secured the last podium place, 6.661s from his teammate, accomplishing a third consecutive double podium for Yamaha.

Lorenzo‘s 25 point score adds to his total of 112 points, keeping him in second position in the standings. He is six points behind teammate and championship leader Rossi, whose 16 points put him on 118 points.

Jorge Lorenzo said: “I‘m very happy, because I did not expect to escape with such a big margin, but sometimes it happens that you feel great on the bike. Today the track was not so quick so everyone has been a bit slower than we expected. I was the only rider to ride multiple 1‘47s, so luckily for me I was gaining six or seven-tenths per lap, this was key to the win of the race. If someone would have told me before Jerez that I would win three races in a row I wouldn‘t have believed it, but this is what happened. We are in a great shape; Valentino is getting podiums in every race so that means he is strong and also the bike is working really well. It seems that this year could be our year, so we have to take advantage of it. It was a different situation when I was twenty-nine points behind than now when it‘s down to six, but even like that it‘s difficult to close in on Valentino in points because he is always on the podium. Today Iannone stayed in front of him so it‘s four points more and as I said six points difference is much better than twenty-nine, but we can‘t relax and neither can Yamaha. Our competitors are working really hard to fix the problems they seem to have with the stability of their bikes and they will arrive at a point that they will win races, but until then we need to make the most of our potential to improve the bike little by little.”

Valentino Rossi said: ``Mugello was very busy, because I am very competitive and all the Italian fans expected a great race from me. It‘s a bit of a shame that it wasn‘t a fantastic race. I wasn‘t strong enough but at the end of the race I arrived on the podium after a great recovery and a hard race. To be on the podium with whole the crowd is always magical with the track being full of people. I‘ve been suffering the whole weekend, I was never strong and didn‘t achieve a good level of speed. In the race I also suffered a lot, especially on the first lap. I think we have to improve, especially with Jorge being very strong, he is in a great shape and to match his level we need to be more competitive.” This concludes the Movistar Yamaha press release.

Battle for second:

As Lorenzo disappeared off into the distance, the real battle would be for second place. This fight was originally between the Factory Ducati’s of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, and the Repsol Honda’s of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, although Valentino Rossi would join in the fun before the end of the race.

Marquez had enjoyed an amazing start, moving up from 13th on the grid into sixth at the very first corner. In contrast, Valentino Rossi suffered a disastrous opening lap that would see him down drop down to tenth, before mounting an incredible charge through the field to join the podium fight with eight laps to go.

There was even more drama to come though, as Dovizioso was forced to retire with a damaged rear sprocket and then Marc Marquez, who was once more involved in an excellent scrap with Iannone for second, crashed out of the race leaving the Italian to claim second ahead of the inspired Rossi in third to send the partisan crowd into raptures.

Dani Pedrosa rode a solid race to claim fourth as the only Honda inside the top ten, just over three seconds behind Rossi.  Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith was the leading Satellite rider in fifth as he benefitted from Cal Crutchlow crashing out of the race with just three laps remaining while the CWM LCR Honda rider was ahead of him on track. Crutchlow went to the Medical Centre for X-rays, but luckily, although he had no broken bones the British rider will need a medical inspection before being declared fit to race in Catalunya. Smith’s teammate Pol Espargaro was next across the line in sixth, while Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), wild card Michele Pirro (Ducati Team), Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and his teammate Yonny Hernandez completed the top ten.

Scott Redding again struggled on his Factory spec Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda, finishing down in eleventh. Athina Forward Racing’s Loris Baz took his first Open class victory as he crossed the line in 12th ahead of Hector Barbera, Alvaro Bautista and Eugene Laverty, who claimed the last championship point on offer.

There were DNF’s for Stefan Bradl, Nicky Hayden, Aleix Espargaro, Jack Miller and Alex De Angelis, while Karel Abraham was guilty of a jump-start off the line and had to serve a ride through penalty before finishing in 17th.

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