Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation
Lorenzo Claims Misano for Yamaha with Perfect Victory
Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo put on a perfect performance today for the Grand Prix of San Marino, leading from the start to claim an incredible race victory at the line. The reigning World Champion was quick off the line from second position, quickly securing the front spot from Championship leader Casey Stoner into the first corner. As the Australian put the pressure on, Lorenzo responded, delivering an untouchable pace to gradually increase his lead. His flawless performance also delivered the new track record for the circuit on his 12th lap with a 1’33.906. Race winner Lorenzo was joined on the podium by legendary Yamaha rider, three time World Champion Wayne Rainey to accept the trophies. Rainey had made an emotional return to Misano this weekend for the first time in eighteen years as part of Yamaha’s 50th Anniversary of Grand Prix racing. Ben Spies worked hard today, battling the hot and humid conditions with a less than perfect set up. Having started form fourth the Texan initially dropped to seventh before slowly reeling in and passing local hero Valentino Rossi. Having despatched the Italian the hunt began for fifth and sixth place riders Simoncelli and Dovizioso. Spies was able to close the gap to less than 0.2 of a second but the battling Italians made it impossible to make a clean pass, finishing in sixth position.
Lorenzo’s stunning performance keeps the Championship alive, reducing the gap to Stoner in first to 35 points with five races remaining on the calendar. Spies picks up 10 points and holds fifth as they head to Aragon in Spain for round 14 in two weeks time.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position 1st - Time 1.33.929 - Laps 43
"Today has been an incredible day for us. I have delivered a good race; it was a very tough and long one. Most importantly we have won again and also reduced a little bit our gap to Casey. I want to dedicate this victory to Wayne who returned to Misano this weekend and I want to say thanks to all my team for their hard work. Now we have two weeks before Aragon, I hope to continue in this shape in my country. Tomorrow we will try the 1000cc Yamaha again; I am looking forward to riding my future bike. This has been one of the best days of my career!"
Ben Spies
Position 4th - Time 1.33.947 - Laps 30
“We started out with an ok set up but we didn’t really go forward all weekend, struggling a lot with edge grip. I wasn’t having a great feeling with the front either so we tried something new in warm up this morning which was honestly a disaster. We changed the front end of the bike dramatically before the race which proved to be good but took a few laps to get confidence in as it was such a big change. Once I got around Rossi I got more comfortable and was able to get to the back of Dovi and Simoncelli but was still struggling with edge grip and couldn’t get close enough to strike. I tried as hard as I could but just didn’t translate into top five this time. I need to say thanks to the team for all their hard work trying to solve the issues this weekend.”
Wilco Zeelenberg
Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“It’s a very great feeling to win again. I think Jorge rode a fantastic race, the bike looked really good and consistent over the whole race. He was pushing it to the limit but he knew he would have to do that to still have a chance at the Championship. Now we can start thinking about the last races being 35 points behind instead of more. It was good that Dani came in between to give us some extra bonus points. We need to keep on winning now!”
Massimo Meregalli
Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“A brilliant victory today, Jorge ran an unbeatable pace; this is the best possible finish to the weekend. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a really good set up for Ben here at Misano. He got good points finishing sixth which are important for the Championship. We’ll go away now and look at the data to make sure we come back fighting in Aragon in two weeks time. I have to thank the whole team who have worked extremely hard in really hot conditions here to do the best they can for both riders.”
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