Jorge Lorenzo jumping for joy at Mugello. The Yamaha ace gave his stalling title defense a serious boost after tracking down his rival Stoner for the win at the Italian Grand Prix.
cut Casey Stoner’s lead in the
MotoGP world championship to just 19 points after he produced a thrilling fightback to win yesterday’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. The factory Yamaha rider’s hopes of a second win of 2011 looked dead and buried as Australian Stoner established a commanding lead of over two seconds at the halfway stage. But the Spaniard kept up relentless pressure on the Repsol Honda rider, who was struggling to maintain his early speed with rear grip problems caused by the wrong tire pressure.
Lorenzo took the lead on Lap 18 and comfortably kept Stoner and Repsol Honda teammate Andrea Dovizioso at bay. Lorenzo said: “It was difficult at the beginning because I knew Casey was so strong with cold tires during the first laps but I didn’t give up and I kept pushing and pushing. It was a difficult moment when Andrea was in front of me because he brakes so late. I needed to take some risks and I couldn’t overtake him on the brakes. When I caught Casey it was the same but I managed to pass him in the same place. This victory is sweeter than Jerez and it is really important and without it maybe the championship will be very complicated because more than 30 points behind Casey is a lot. Now it is 19 and I can see Casey in the championship.
“This victory is very special for me and it has been a long time since I won in normal conditions. The Jerez victory was special but the in wet conditions you don’t have the same feeling or the same taste. But now I have a more competitive bike and we are closer. I can fight and I have the performance to at least fight. Before I was always trying to catch him and it was impossible. I was lucky in Jerez because Valentino took away Casey and for this I was leading the championship. Now I can win races and everything is possible. In Assen I was quite competitive, especially in the race, and we found something that improved my lap time and my performance, so I was convinced that here I could be there from the beginning of the weekend and it was like that. Now the bike is more stable and I can brake later and I can be faster in general.”
Lorenzo said he had anticipated the race being faster but the high track temperatures that hit close to 131 degrees and he added: “To be honest I hoped for a faster pace in the race, like in low 48s. But we were unable to make that because the track was so hot and we used the hard tires so it was a strange feeling in the front on the corners and always closing. But it was the same for everyone. My style is going faster and faster from the middle of the race to the end and that has won this race for me. Casey was sliding too much and Andrea always struggles a little bit at the end of the race, so now I have the bike to put on the track my style.”
Ben Spies said two early mistakes cost him the chance to follow up his brilliant debut win in Assen last month with another podium finish in Mugello yesterday. Spies finished in fourth position after executing a brilliant last corner move on home favorite Marco Simoncelli. But the Texan said he could have fought for a second successive podium had it not been for two crucial early mistakes.
The factory Yamaha rider, who closed down a two-second deficit on San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Simoncelli, said: “We had the speed to battle for the podium but I wasn't there in the first eight laps and I just couldn't hang on. I'm happy enough coming off a win and we backed it up with a good solid ride. It wasn’t a perfect weekend and the two mistakes is what cost me. Without them I believe we would've had a shot at the podium. But I did make the mistakes and didn't ride great, but that's just how it goes. I did the best I could and it wasn't good enough for the first three. We came through and ran Marco down and passed him and he hung on and that was the race from there on out.”
Spies said pushing the front-end in the early stages caused his mistakes, and he added: “I just ran wide in a couple corners. I was struggling a little bit with the front, not losing the front, but just pushing the front in a couple of areas. I was just that three or four-tenths off my rhythm in the first eight laps and I made two mistakes that kept me from staying in the slipstream. Once it happened I just had to try to pull back Marco. We did that and then with six laps or seven laps to go, we moved past him. I saw that I couldn't shake him, so I let him back by and I spent four laps seeing exactly where he was strong and where he was weak.”
Spies snatched fourth with a daring but superb overtake on the inside of Simoncelli at the final corner and he said: “I sneaked underneath him in the last corner and I slowed down enough where I kept him on my outside, I didn't let him high-low me and just got a really good drive and used all the race track and got to the line before him.”
