Rossi’s team mate extends lead in points tally with second consecutive win
Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo scored another stunning win at France in the Le Mans GP, his second consecutive win this season, ahead of second placed team mate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso. The win also makes it three victories for the Fiat Yamaha team in as many races with the first being reigning champion Valentino Rossi’s win in the night race at Qatar. Rossi, who began on Pole at Le Mans, led the race till lap 12, while arch rival and team mate Lorenzo tried to fight his way ahead. In spite of problems with both his bike and shoulder Rossi boldly held onto his position right from the start, leading well through the first corner. On the other hand, Lorenzo who has been making poor starts off the line lately seemed to benefit from his recent testing wherein he concentrated more on his starts than anything else.
As the lights went out, he lost only one position to fellow compatriot and Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa meanwhile was quick to follow Rossi in second. But Lorenzo soon made his way up, passing Pedrosa to regain second position. On lap eight, Lorenzo made a serious attack to pass Rossi, sticking onto his heels, but could not make the pass. Rossi did his best to maintain his lead, braking deeper and deeper into corners. Finally on lap twelve, Lorenzo managed to pass Rossi, and quickly scurried away to take a huge lead, while Rossi seemed to be struggling with grip issues at the rear. The 23 year-old finished nearly six seconds ahead of Rossi to take the win, winning the Le Mans GP for the second consecutive time. Lorenzo now towers over Rossi in the points tally by 9 points, even as Fiat Yamaha stand proud at the top of the points tally for teams, and Yamaha lead the Constructor’s championship. Incidentally, the next race is at Mugello, which is Valentino Rossi’s home turf. Talking about the win Lorenzo said it is for the first time that I have won twice consecutively in MotoGP, and I am really happy about it. I am also glad that finally I made a good start. Passing Valentino wasn’t easy, since he was braking really deep into each corner, and I was getting impatient. Once I passed him, the bike and my tyres felt really good, and enabled me to pull a huge lead. I enjoy racing here in France, since I won twice, and finished second once here. It feels great to lead the championship, but all I can say at this point is that there is a long way to go, especially since the competition will be really tough at Mugello, which is the next round.
The battle for third place was no less stiff than the one for first, as here it was the factory Honda riders Pedrosa and Dovizioso fighting amongst themselves. Pedrosa eventually succumbed to the pressure from Dovizioso, handing him a podium finish. Pedrosa even went off the line a couple of times towards the end, allowing Nicky Hayden to pass him on his factory Ducati. The other factory Ducati rider Casey Stoner faced tough luck yet again, as he crashed out on the third lap of the race itself. Pedrosa eventually had to remain content with fifth place, even as Gresini Honda rider Marco Melandri followed him in sixth. Randy De Puniet of LCR Honda finished seventh. Hector Barbera of the Aspar Ducati team finished eighth, while Pramac Ducati’s Aleix Espargaro came in ninth, ahead of Gresini Honda’s Marco Simoncelli who finished tenth. Interwetten Honda’s lone rider Hiroshi Aoyama finished eleventh, ahead of Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s veteran rider Colin Edwards. Mika Kallio finished in thirteenth place, which was the last. WSBK champion Ben Spies crashed out of the race without points, and so did Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi.
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