 Lorenzo extended his MotoGP lead with victory at Silverstone
|
Spain's Jorge Lorenzo stretched his lead at the top of the Championship standings after winning Sunday's British MotoGP at Silverstone.
The Fiat Yamaha rider led from start to finish, having begun the race on pole.
Italy's Andrea Dovizioso came in second while American Ben Spies claimed his first podium finish in third place.
Compatriot Nicky Hayden was edged into fourth with Casey Stoney fifth, a place ahead of Frenchman Randy de Puniet with Dani Pedrosa trailing in eighth.
Pedrosa, who was second in the Championship going into the race at Silverstone, had endured a torrid weekend.
The Spaniard crashed during qualifying on Saturday sustaining bruising to both knees and fell off again in final practise on Sunday and the Repsol Honda rider was well off the pace at Silverstone.
For 23-year-old Lorenzo it was his third win of the season in five races. The 23-year-old is favourite for the title after team-mate and world champion Valentino Rossi broke his leg in practice for the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago.
"I'm so excited I didn't expect to go so fast at the beginning, the track was quite cold and it was difficult to go fast with these tyres. Today was very important for the Championship," Lorenzo, who won by a hefty 6.743 seconds, told BBC Sport.
Lorenzo had led the Championship from Pedrosa by 25 points going into the race but stretched his lead to 37 points - 115 in total - with Repsol Honda's Dovizioso moving into second with 78. Pedrosa is back in third on 73.
Dovizioso who finished second on Sunday added: "We had a controlled race, but we didn't have the pace to fight with Lorenzo, he was so fast but second is very important for the Championship.
Spies who was thrilled to earn his first podium finish in MotoGP added: "When I saw five laps to go and de Puniet made a mistake I thought 'the podium is potentially on, I am pulling the pin'. Then Nicky and I went crazy, but I held on and got the podium and it feels good."
In the Moto2 race France's Jules Cluzel, riding for Forward Racing, earned glory ahead of Swiss Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki) and Spaniard Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar).
In a thrilling final lap Cluzel took advantage of small mistake by Luthi in the closing stages of the race to claim his first grand prix race win.
GB's Scott Redding turned in a superb performance finishing in fourth position having started 12th on the grid.
More to follow:
British MotoGP result:
1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha
2 A Dovizioso (It) Honda
3 B Spies (US) Yamaha
Moto2 result:
1 Jules Cluzel (Fra) Suter 39mins 19.472secs
2 Thomas Luthi (Swi) Moriwaki 39:19.529
3 Julian Simon (Spa) Suter 39:19.794
4 Scott Redding (Gbr) Suter 39:19.992,
No comments:
Post a Comment