Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo showed why he’s the new MotoGP World Champion by storming to convincing win over teammate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovisioso in surprisingly dry conditions (after a weekend of torrential rain and high winds, part of which forced the cancellation of qualifying on Saturday afternoon). This forced the MotoGP field to make a gamble on setup, as there was precious little dry practice time on the Estoril circuit in Portugal, with rain soaking all but the latter half of Friday afternoon’s practice session.
Dovisioso came out on top of a heated battle for the final podium position with San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli, just edging out the fellow Italian by 0.059 seconds at the finish. Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden finished fifth after leading the race in the early stages, with LCR Honda’s Randy De Puniet coming in sixth ahead of Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards. Edwards’ teammate Ben Spies was the unfortunate victim of a nasty highside crash on the sighting lap, resulting in a dislocated ankle that may rule him out of both the final race next weekend at Valencia and the first post-season test immediately following. Also unlucky was Hayden’s teammate Casey Stoner, who crashed out of third place midway through the race. Other non-finishers included both Pramac Ducati riders Aleix Espargaro and fill-in Carlos Checa, with Espargaro crashing on the first lap, and Checa having to pull out midway through the race due to arm pump problems.
Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo...
Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo came from behind to win the Portuguese MotoGP at Estoril.
“It was a very tough and unexpected race because we didn’t practice on the dry,” admitted Lorenzo, “so we start the race without any feelings, no? There were a lot of patches of water, I almost crash many times, I think like everyone. But you know, in the lap eight or ten, I thought Vale was going to win the race, but little by little I was improving my lap time. He was still on the same pace, so I could catch him, pass him, and then go.”
Valentino Rossi (46) made...
Valentino Rossi (46) made this early pass at the chicane on Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo (99) to take the lead, but Lorenzo soon came back to win the race by more than 8 seconds.
“At the beginning, it was difficult because we never try on the dry,” concurred Rossi. “On the first lap, I take some risks on the wet patches because I felt confident with the bike and was able to keep a good pace and stay in front with a good advantage. Unfortunately when the track coming better, Jorge have a better pace than me, I try to change line, I try to make something for improve my pace. I stay with him for two or three lap, I push but he was faster than me so I have to give up. But anyway is a good result for me because last year it was a bad, bad race; we make a good improvement in the setting, we need something more because it was a strange situation because we never have time for improve the bike, but this second place is important for the championship because second place I try to take Dani (Pedrosa).”
Ducati Marlboro's Nicky Hayden...
Ducati Marlboro's Nicky Hayden (69) led the race in the early stages, but the forced gamble with setup forced the Kentuckian to settle for fifth place.
“Today was the first time in my career that I have gone out to race in the dry without completing a single lap in those conditions before lining up on the grid,” revealed Hayden. “Over the first few laps the bike worked really well, I felt good and I even managed to lead the race which hasn't happened for a while. In the middle part of the race I had a couple of moments on damp patches and lost my feeling a little. I got my rhythm back together towards the end and joined in the fight for the podium. Fifth place alongside a crash for Casey isn't a brilliant result for the team—it has been a tough weekend on everybody but we will try to do better at Valencia.”
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin...
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards (5) and Ducati Marlboro's Nicky Hayden (69) do a little rubbin' coming out of the chicane during the Estoril MotoGP race.
Edwards looked like he might be able to close on the battle for third after passing De Puniet on lap 18, but eventually fell back to finish seventh. “It was a lottery before the race because we’d had no dry track time and at the start there was still quite a few damp patches around,” Edwards said. “My guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 though did an awesome job because what we ran on the bike worked pretty good. But if you don’t adapt in a couple of laps then you’re in big trouble and off the pace. I felt pretty good from the start even though it was so difficult in the first few laps. It was hard to find the limit or work out when you were going to slide and everybody was having big moments. This is all going on why you’re trying to push at the same time and it was a bit of a lottery just to keep it on two wheels. I caught that group and I could see third but I couldn’t do anything with them and that was pretty frustrating. I made up time on them on the brakes but they just had a bit more punch coming out of the corners. So each time I’d close up, they’d gap me leaving the next corner. The podium was right there, I could see it, but I just couldn’t get close enough.”
Casey Stoner (27) looked strong...
Casey Stoner (27) looked strong in third place on his Ducati early on, but a slight mistake resulted in the Australian crashing out midway through the race.
Stoner was obviously disappointed to crash out of the lead group. “There’s not much to say today, other than it's a shame, obviously. I was taking it steady over the first couple of laps getting the tires up to temperature, and then I was able to push a little harder to close the gap to the guys in front of me. When I got on the back of Jorge I wasn't pushing as hard as I had on the previous laps but I ran a little off line and lost the front. I tried to save it but I wasn't able to and I’m really sorry to all the guys in the team because they did a good job in difficult conditions to find a good setup. We’ll try and make up for it in Valencia.”
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben...
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben Spies unfortunately never made it to the start grid for the Estoril race - he suffered a nasty highside crash on the second sighting lap, dislocating his ankle and possibly ruling him out of the season-ending Valencia race and the post-season test immediately afterward.
Despite his misfortune, Spies intends to try and make the Valencia race and post-season tests afterward. “I knew the race was going to be tough because I had never turned a lap in the dry on this track," said Spies about his crash on the second of two sighting laps. "The first sighting lap was fine and on the second I just made a mistake at turn four. Aoyama and Capirossi were in front of me and they nearly did the same thing. I just didn't have the left side of the tire heated up enough and it spat me off. I'm frustrated because I'm sure even in the dry I could have had a fairly good race. I've hurt my left ankle again and it's pretty painful right now. I'll have some more scans in Spain but my intention is to go to Valencia and race and hopefully do the test too. We'll have to wait and see but that's my plan right now."
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