MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo wins the Catalunya GP

USPA NEWS - Jorge Lorenzo hammers in another superb win at the Catalan GP at Montmeló. Andrea Dovizioso forced to retire after a crash.
Two weeks after his Mugello triumph, Jorge Lorenzo today made it two in a row by winning the Catalan GP at the Montmeló circuit. The rider from Mallorca, who started from pole, moved into the lead of the race on lap 2 when he passed Marquez, and then firmly held onto that position right until the chequered flag, finishing over four seconds ahead of his Honda rival.

It was an unfortunate race for Andrea Dovizioso, who also started from the front row after going third-quickest in qualifying yesterday. The Italian crashed under braking for Turn 5 when he was in third and had to retire. Lorenzo has now moved up to seventh place in the overall standings on 66 points, followed by Dovizioso with the same haul, while Ducati now lie second overall in the Constructors´ championship with 132 points. The next race of the MotoGP World Championship will be in the Netherlands, in two weeks time, at the Assen circuit for the Dutch TT from 29th June to 1st July.

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) - 1st “Today´s win was really fantastic! We showed that we can win not only by entering the first turn in first place, but also by recovering and overtaking the others. It was actually a complicated race because I got off to a bad start and lost a lot of metres to Marquez, but I told myself that the race was long and I had to keep calm. It wasn´t too difficult to take Marc, because I had that little bit extra under braking, but he stayed pretty close to me right down to the flag. Now we´ve got a very competitive package and I think that this is the most complete Ducati bike of all time: both Dovi and I this weekend have always been competitive. We must capitalize on this situation because the Desmosedici works well at virtually every track, it doesn´t consume the tyres too much, and this is a big advantage. Now let´s enjoy this win and then we´ll think about the next race.“

Luigi Dall´Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager) “I am very pleased because here at Montmeló we were fast with both our riders throughout the entire weekend. Jorge was great and to see him ride this way, for everyone who loves our sport, is something really fantastic. I´m disappointed for Andrea, who was doing a good job, but in any case we´re satisfied because our performance in the last two races make us feel confident also for Assen and for Sachsenring, two tracks that are normally not so favourable for us.“

Marc Marquez 2nd “Today was a race where we had to manage as best as possible and I tried to be smart. Of course in the first laps I pushed hard because it was important to follow Jorge and to open a gap on the chasers. When we built a comfortable advantage I just managed the pace. I even slowed down a bit in the final part of the race as it was impossible to catch Lorenzo. I saw many crashes, which made me think more than I did in other races. Sometimes the tyre choice you make doesn´t result in the exact feeling you were hoping for, but I think that second is very good for the Championship because we arrived here with a 23-point lead and go to Assen with 27. It´s time to understand how the situation is and try and manage it as best as possible. We made a mistake in Mugello and that had me thinking a lot. Of course, when you don´t win the feeling that you were missing something remains, but a podium is a good result! Maybe other challenging races will arrive but the good thing for us is that so far in every race we have been in good shape.“

Valentino Rossi 3nd Yesterday, after the practice sessions, I saw that my rivals were a bit faster than I was. I was very close to the second group, but this morning we improved the settings with my team, together with Silvano, and then I had better turning and could go a bit faster. After that I wasn´t far off, but unfortunately just not close enough. Later Dovi made a mistake and I arrived on the podium. I´m happy because last year at this race track we struggled a lot - it was a disaster - while this year I was able to keep up the pace until the last lap, in a good way. These are also important points for the championship, because I've gained a small advantage to defend second place and we have to continue like this.