Jorge Lorenzo powered to a third consecutive MotoGP win at Mugello on Sunday, grabbing the lead in the very first corner of the Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix and holding off determined charges by both Honda hotshots to lead home championship leader Dani Pedrosa and Britain’s Cal Crutchlow on the first of the satellite Yamahas.
There were crashes for both local hero Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez, ending the Spanish rookie’s run of consecutive podium finishes.
Both South African riders struggled in the Mugello sunshine – Steven Odendaal (Speed Up) crashed out on lap 12 of the Moto2 race, while Brad Binder came home a disappointing 14th in the Moto3 race.
MOTOGP
Pedrosa – winner of the previous two Grands Prix in Spain and France – had taken his first pole position of the campaign ahead of Lorenzo and Ducati works rider Andrea Dovizioso, and was first into Turn 1, but ran slightly wide and was tagged by Lorenzo as the World champion dived inside to take the lead coming out.
Two corners later Honda privateer Alvaro Bautista earned himself lifelong notoriety at Mugello as he ran wide and collided with local deity Valentino Rossi on the second Yamaha, taking them both out, only 30 seconds into the race.
Pedrosa hung on to the Lorenzo like a shadow until just past the halfway mark, but than came under increasing pressure from his 20-year-old rookie team mate (no team orders there!) while Lorenzo put a small but crucial buffer between himself and the battling Hondas.
Marquez pulled off a ballsy move on the inside of Savelli curve on lap 19 to take over second, but overdid it in exactly the same place two laps later and threw it all away in his fourth crash of the weekend.
The promoted Pedrosa back into second and put Yamaha Tech 3’s Crutchlow on the podium for the second time in two weeks, becoming the first British rider since 1987 to take back-to-back podium finishes.
Honda privateer Stefan Bradl delivered a mature ride to fourth, equalling his career-best result - coincidently achieved at the same circuit in 2012 - while the factory Ducati team filled positions five to seven on their home circuit, with Dovizioso eventually getting the best of a race-long battle with team mate Nicky Hayden and wild card Michele Pirro followed them home in only his second outing on the Desmosedici GP13 ‘test mule’.
Aleix Espargaro took his ART to its best result yet in eighth, just ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha rider, who put in an heroic ride despite immense pain from an injured wrist and finger, and Hector Barbara on the FTR.
Lorenzo’s second win of the season moved him up to second in the points standings, 12 points behind Pedrosa, as Marquez dropped to third, 26 points behind the championship leader.
RESULTS
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha – 41min39.733
2 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda +5.400sec
3 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha +6.412
4 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda +19.321
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati +19.540
6 Nicky Hayden (United States) Ducati +26.321
7 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati +38.144
8 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) ART +39.802
9 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha +40.243
10 Hector Barbera (Spain) FTR +48.392
POINTS after 5 of 18 rounds
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda – 103
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha – 91
3 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda – 77
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha - 71
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati – 50
6 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati - 47
7 Nicky Hayden (United States) Ducati – 45
8 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda – 38
9 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda – 30
10 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) ART - 28
MOTO2
Redding – who won his first Moto2 race last time out in France – celebrated pole position, starting in front of Japan’s as Germany’s Marcel Schrotter placed himself on the front row for the first time.
Kalex rider Takaaki Nakagami took the lead off the start line, but a decisive move from pole man Scott Redding (also Kalex-mounted) at Poggio Seco on the fourth lap saw him slide to the front. Nakagami, struggling under braking, immediately began to drop back and crashed out at Scarperia on lap nine - his second fall in as many Grands Prix.
As Redding began to stretch out a healthy advantage over Suter riders Nicolas Terol and Johann Zarco, Pol Espargaro (Kalex) set about damage control.
Starting from 10th, the pre-season title favourite worked his way up the field in the second half of the race – helped by a collision between Alex de Angelis (Speed Up) and Xavier Simeon (Kalex ) that put Simeon out of the race - Espargaro blitzed Mika Kallio (Kalex) for fourth just two laps from the flag.
Kallio led home Jordi Torres (Suter) after an entertaining duel, followed by Speed Up tam mates Simone Corsi and De Angelis with Swiss riders Thomas Luthi and Dominique Aegerter (each on a Suter) in the final two top 10 slots.
Redding’s wins at Le Mans and Mugello made him the first Briton to take two consecutive intermediate-class Grands Prix since Rodney Gould in 1971.
RESULTS
1 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex – 39min53.942
2 Nicolas Terol (Spain) Suter +2.175sec
3 Johann Zarco (France) Suter +4.387
4 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex +9.787
5 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex +9.851
6 Jordi Torres (Spain) Suter +10.644
7 Simone Corsi (Italy) Speed Up +10.718
8 Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Speed Up +10.844
9 Thomas Luthi (Switzerland) Suter +10.900
10 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter +12.166
Steven Odendaal (South Africa) Speed Up – DNF
MOTO3
Saturday had seen Jonas Folger (Kalex KTM) take his first pole position of the season ahead of championship leader Maverick Viñales, who was looking to complete a hat trick of Moto3 race wins.
Luis Salom (KTM), who qualified fifth, had won the season-opening Qatar GP and was yet to finish off the podium in 2013. He moved to third on the opening lap and, in the closing stages, could be seen making the most of his KTM’s power to pull in front of the pack on the start/finish straight.
The crucial moment came three laps from home, as Alex Rins’ KTM team mate Alex Marquez allowed Salom to pull out enough of a gap to hold the advantage by the time Rins and Viñales rejoined the top three group. Rins, having bogged down slightly at the start, was nonetheless delighted to finish second from third on the grid.
Viñales led at half distance, having disposed of Folger on lap four before heading up a thrilling lead group of six riders. Behind, another multi-rider cluster was contesting positions eight and downwards and on several occasions up to six riders were side-by-side going down to first corner San Donato.
Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra) celebrated his best result of the season so far – fourth, ahead of Marquez – after each had had a turn in front, but Folger was unable to get back on terms with the leading bunch and finished sixth, ahead of Niccolo Antonelli (FTR Honda), KTM rider Niklas Ajo (who pulled off an impressive overtaking manoeuvre during the race), Kalex KTM rookie Granado and Jack Miller on an FTR Honda.
Salom’s fourth career win moved him to within four points of Viñales at the top of the points table with 102 points to Viñales 106, with Rins third on 81 but still paying the price of his crash in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.
South African Brad Binder (Suter Honda) battled for a top 10 finish for most of the race, until a collision with Romano Fenati on lap 18 dropped him down to 16th, although he made up two places on the final lap to come3 home 14th.
RESULTS
1 Luis Salom (Spain) KTM – 39min53.827
2 Alex Rins (Spain) KTM +0.099sec
3 Maverick Vinales (Spain) KTM +0.303
4 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Mahindra +0.757
5 Alex Marquez (Spain) KTM +0.819
6 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex KTM +1.433
7 Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) FTR Honda +16.464
8 Niklas Ajo (Finland) KTM +18.627
9 Eric Granado (Brazil) Kalex KTM +18.957
10 Jack Miller (Australia) FTR Honda +19.026
14 Brad Binder (South Africa) Suter Honda +21.241