Lorenzo dominates Aragon MotoGP

Jorge Lorenzo was in a class of his own as he took his 60th career Grand Prix win and cut the championship lead of Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi to just 14 points. Picture: MotoGP.com

Jorge Lorenzo was in a class of his own as he took his 60th career Grand Prix win and cut the championship lead of Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi to just 14 points. Picture: MotoGP.com

Published Sep 27, 2015

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Motorland Aragon, Spain - Jorge Lorenzo took his 60th career Grand Prix win in superb style on Sunday to reduce title rival and Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi’s championship lead to just 14 points with four races and 100 points still to be decided.

South African brothers Brad and Darryn Binder, sadly, took nothing but bad memories away from Aragon after Brad was bumped by Enea Bastianini and crashed out of the lead on the final lap of the Moto3 race and Darryn went down after colliding with Isaac Vinales.

MOTOGP

There was drama on the line as Marquez (who’d set an absolute lap record for the circuit on his way to pole position) seemed to fluff the start, allowing Lorenzo to lead into the first corner with Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone second.

Marquez soon recovered, however, passing Iannone into second through the first few corners and setting off after Lorenzo at the front.

Rossi, who knew he couldn’t afford to let Lorenzo get away, started making his way through the field from sixth on the grid immediately, moving up to fifth at the end of the first lap at the expense of Yamaha Tech 3 rider Pol Espargaro - but he was already two seconds behind Lorenzo.

Then Marquez lost the front at Turn 12, just as he was closing in on Lorenzo, and crashed out of the Aragon GP for the second consecutive year. It was the defending world champion’s fifth DNF in a desperately difficult season, and left him trailing Rossi by 70 points in the standings.

Marquez's crash moved Iannone up into second, but not for long as Marquez’s team-mate Pedrosa passed the Ducati a lap later, while Lorenzo looked untouchable as he opened up a 2.4s lead by the end of lap three.

Rossi knew he had to get a move on; he passed Iannone to take third on lap four, although at this point he was lapping 0.3s a lap slower than Lorenzo as his team-mate continued to pull away.

But by lap eight both Pedrosa and Rossi started to lap faster than Lorenzo and the gap narrowed to 2.6s. Lorenzo got the “hurry up” signal from his pit board and responded, managing his pace beautifully over the next few laps.

With 10 laps to go Lorenzo was consistently running in the 1’48s and increasing his lead on every lap; the gap at the front was up to 3.3s, with Rossi still hanging onto the back wheel of the works Honda in third.

Rossi meanwhile, was starting to size up Pedrosa ahead of him in an effort to secure a vital extra four championship points by finishing second. With five laps to go he made his first move in anger into Turn 4 but Pedrosa immediately struck back to re-take second. Undeterred, Rossi tried it again into Turn 1, but he couldn’t get it stopped and once more Pedrosa fought back as the two became embroiled in a spectacular duel over the final few laps.

Rossi tried again under braking into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, but still couldn’t make it stick. Then he went past in Turn 4, only for Pedrosa to stuff it up the inside into Turn 7.

It seemed Pedrosa had second in the bag - until Rossi made an outrageous move through Turn 15, but he had to sacrifice drive out onto the back straight to make the pass. Pedrosa was able to power his way back past and hold on through the final corner to take second by just 0.09s, 2.6 seconds behind Lorenzo.

It was Pedrosa’s 96th premier-class podium, but only his second of the season and first since the Catalan GP. Rossi claimed his 14th podium from just 15 races this season and the 209th in his illustrious GP career, although the damage done to his championship lead could prove to be costly in his bid for a 10th title.

Iannone ended up an excellent fourth despite having to ride through the pain of the shoulder he re-dislocated earlier in the week. He came home 16 seconds ahead of Ducati Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who finished fifth after holding off a charging pack behind him.

There Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) got the best of a frantic three-way dash for the line with Honda privateer Cal Crutchlow and Yamaha Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith, while Pol Espargaro and Ducati privateer Yonny Hernandez completed the top 10.

Tito Rabat kept the championship alive with his second win of the season after a race-long battle with local hero Alex Rins, whose family live in the area, taking line honours by just 0.096s after a dramatic final lap.

Consistent as usual, Sam Lowes - the only rider in the top 10 not on a Kalex - claimed the final podium spot for Speed Up, while championship leader Johann Zarco came in sixth, reducing his lead to 78 points, which meant he would have to wait until the Japanese Grand Prix for his next opportunity to clinch the title.

The race got off to a rocky start as Xavier Simeon and Dominique Aegerter crashed out at Turn 15 on the opening lap, bringing out the red flags. Neither was hurt and Simeon able to take place his place back on the grid for the restart. Aegerter was taken to the medical centre for a check-up but was deemed fit and tried to make it back in time to start from pit lane, but just missed out.

The re-started race was reduced to 14 laps and it was Rabat who led from pole into Turn 1 ahead of Rins and Lowes while Simone Corsi pulled a great start from 11th and was up to fifth by the end of lap one. Rins passed Rabat on lap one as the front five opened up a two second gap.

A lap later Luis Salom crashed out at Turn 9 while Simeon crashed again, this time at Turn 7, signalling the end of a miserable day.

With 10 laps to go Rins and Rabat were starting to pull away from Lowes in third and had opened up a 1.4s gap at the front as the field began to spread out.

Rabat made his move on the brakes going into Turn 1 with eight laps to go, re-taking the lead as they pulled away from Lowes in third. Meanwhile Zarco was involved in an excellent battle for sixth with Takaaki Nakagami, Lorenzo Baldassari, Hafizh Syahrin and Corsi.

As the laps ticked down Rabat could not break away from Rins; he led in to the final lap but it was obvious that Rins would make a move. It came under braking into Turn 12, but Rins ran a bit wide and Rabat fought back.

Rabat led down the back straight - almost running wide in the final corner - but held on for his 12th Moto2 career victory. Rins’ excellent rookie season continued with his eighth podium finish in only his 14th Moto2 start, while Lowes took his fourth rostrum of the season.

Jonas Folger finished a lonely race in fourth - his best result since his win in Barcelona - after battling with Lowes in the early stages, while Thomas Luthi held off a late charge from Zarco to claim fifth. Syahrin, Nakagami, Corsi and Baldassari completed the top 10.

RESULTS

MOTO3

KTM’s Miguel Oliveira took his third win of the season in a dramatic finish that saw the two title contenders both crash out on the final lap. He grabbed the hole shot from pole-sitter Enea Bastinanini (Honda) as championship leader Danny Kent (Honda) dropped back to fifth.

Bastianini led at the end of lap one, but Oliviera re-took the lead on lap two and tried to get away, but the slipstream effect at Aragon made that almost impossible.

KTM privateer Romano Fenati pulled a good start and by the end of lap four he’d worked his way up from 10th on the grid into fifth.

Fenati made his move into the on lap six while Kent got into a dice with title rival Bastianini before starting a charge that saw him up into third at the beginning of lap eight.

A few corners later Kent hit the front for the first time and immediately pulled the pin as he and Oliviera swapped the lead a number of times.

By lap 10 Fenati was looking menacing in fourth as the action heated up, with Bastianini also mixing it with the leading riders.

With eight laps to go Isaac Viñales (Husqvarna) and Darryn Binder (Mahindra) crashed out under braking for Turn 12 and Karel Hanika (KTM) had a nasty highside at Turn 2, while at the front each rider seemed to be taking turns leading the race; nobody could open a decisive gap.

Kent had a big moment with four laps to go as he tried to move into the lead and dropped back to fifth, just ahead of Bastianini, while Oliveira took over at the front.

With two laps to go there were nine riders battling for the win. Brad Binder (KTM) took the lead for the first time; he and team-mate Oliveira looked like they had timed it perfectly as they opened a slight gap heading into the final lap.

But Bastianini closed the gap and it was a three-way battle for the win on the final lap – until Bastianini caught the back of Binder’s bike and both crashed out in an incident that could have had a huge impact on the championship.

It looked as if Kent would benefit from his title rivals’ fall to extend his lead in the standings, until he lost the rear on the very last corner and also crashed out, handing the win to Oliveira, as Honda privateer Jorge Navarro claimed his first Moto3 podium despite a heavy crash in the morning’s warm-up session, while Fenati completed the rostrum for his third podium of the season.

Efren Vazquez (Honda) was fourth, ahead of Phillip Oettl (KTM) and Niccolo Antonelli (Honda) and Mahindra’s Jorge Martin. Alexis Masbou (Honda), Hiroki Ono (KTM) and Andrea Migno (Honda) rounded out the top 10.

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