Jerez de la Frontera, Spain - Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo celebrated his 28th birthday in fine style on Sunday with a lights-to-flag win in his home Grand Prix - the 55th of his career.
Lorenzo came home an emphatic 5.576 seconds ahead of Honda’s defending world champion Marc Marquez, capping a perfect weekend that saw him become the first rider ever to lap the Jerez circuit in less than 1m38s in qualifying, start from pole and set a new lap record during the race.
His factory Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi finished third to claim an all-time record 200th podium finish.
Another podium finish went to South African Brad Binder in Moto3 while younger brother Darryn got involved in a seven-way battle for 17th that went all the way to the flag.
MOTOGP
Lorenzo pulled a perfect launch off the line to grab the holeshot and immediately to pull away, setting a lap record of 1m38.735 on only the second lap. Marquez, battling the pain of a broken finger, was able to stay with him but was never within striking range for a pass – and was himself in danger from a charging Rossi.
With seven laps to The Doctor closed top within a seconds of Marquez but was unable to make the final move as he did in Argentina, falling back in the closing laps to finish six seconds adrift.
Honda privateer Cal Crutchlow finished a lonely fourth as the leading satellite rider, 3.8 seconds ahead of Pol Espargaro on the Yamaha Tech3 M1, while works Ducati rider Andrea Iannone got the better of a hard-fought duel for sixth with Aleix Espargaro on the steadily improving factory Suzuki GSX-RR.
Espargaro’s Tech3 team-mate Bradley Smith finished eighth, ahead of Ducati Team lead rider Andrea Dovizioso, who had to battle through the field after running wide twice in the opening laps and dropping to 25th , and Ducati privateer Yonny Hernandez.
His 200th podium brought Rossi up to 82 points and a 15-point advantage over Dovizioso’s 67 points in the championship standings, while Lorenzo’s win took him past Marquez on 56 into third with 62.
MOTO2
German-built Kalex chassis machines dominated the Moto2 leaderboard, taking the first nine places, with Jonas Folger notching up his second win of the season ahead of Johann Zarco and Tito Rabat after a dramatic last-corner clash.
Folger took the lead from Rabat with 17 laps to go, and didn’t look back as he built up a small but crucial gap, to win by almost two seconds - but the real action was behind him.
Defending champion and pole sitter Rabat led the race throughout the early stages and looked set for a comfortable second with only a couple of laps to go, when his tyres suddenly went off and he fell back into the clutches Alex Rins and a charging Zarco, who had started from ninth on the grid and made his way up to fourth.
Rins and Zarco dramatically closed the gap on the last lap and, approaching turn 13, it was clear they would make a move on Rabat, who at this point was sliding all over the place. Rins attempted a move up the inside, before making contact with Rabat and falling into the gravel trap, eventually remounting to finish in 18th.
Zarco saw his chance and snatched second from under Rabat’s nose in the drag to the line (making contact in the process), while Rabat had to settle for third. Thomas Luthi rode a strong race to finish in a lonely fourth, more than four seconds clear of Xavier Simeon, with Franco Morbidelli, Rins’ team-mate Luis Salom, Simone Corsi, Alex Marquez (Marc’s younger brother) and Marcel Schrotter (Speed Up) rounding out the top 10.
MOTO3
Honda rider Danny Kent became the first British rider to win three consecutive Grands Prix since Barry Sheene in 1977, after an epic last-lap scrap with Honda’s Fabio Quartararo and KTM Miguel Oliviera.
Unlike in Austin and Argentina, Kent could not break away from the field despite numerous attempts, and found himself involved in a four-way fight for the lead with Quartararo, Oliveira and Brad Binder.
Going into the final corner, it looked like 16-year-old Quartararo could just take the win, but he outbraked himself and had to pick the bike up, colliding with Kent and running very wide, handing the win to Kent by just 0.097s from Oliviera, who’d actually led most of the final lap, while Oliviera’s team-mate Binder – who’d been biding his time in fourth - was able to make the most of Quartararo’s error and grab the final podium spot.
Kent’s team-mate Efren Vazquez fought back from 17th on the grid to fifth by lap 10; he looked set to challenge the leading group at one point but faded in the last laps to come home a lonely fifth ahead of Romano Fenati (KTM) and Francesco Bagnaia (Mahindra) with Honda riders Jorge Navarro, Francesco Bagnaia and John McPhee completing the top 10.