Barcelona – Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo cut compatriot Dani Pedrosa's lead in the championship standings to just seven points with his third career win at the Catalunya MotoGP on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Spaniard, who was winning for the third time this season following his victories in the Qatar and Italian Grand Prix', moved from third on the grid to first on his Yamaha before the first corner and was never overtaken.
Pedrosa meanwhile extended his run of podium finishes to five races as he held off a late charge from his Honda teammate Marc Marquez to finish second with the 20-year-old rookie back in third.
In another day of baking hot conditions at the Montmelo track the majority of the action arrived very early in the race as Lorenzo got alongside Pedrosa on their way into the first corner and almost collided with the 27-year-old before slipping down the inside of the Honda rider to move into the lead.
Marquez also had a great start as he jumped from sixth on the grid to third by the first corner as he passed Cal Crutchlow, Alvaro Bautista and Nicky Hayden.
However, worse was to come for all three of those riders as with many of the field struggling for grip on the sweltering track, they crashed out with barely two laps of the race completed.
That left the path clear for six-time world champion Valentino Rossi to move up to fourth, but the Italian never threatened to catch the Spanish trio at the front who began to build up a comfortable advantage.
Pedrosa stayed on Lorenzo's backwheel for the first-half of the race but the world champion managed to pull away slightly in the closing laps to ensure his position was never under any threat.
The focus then turned to a fascinating battle for second as Marquez showed little respect for the seniority of his teammate Pedrosa as he chased down the championship leader in the final stages with the two almost touching wheels at one point.
However, Pedrosa held on to move onto 123 points with six of the 18-race long campaign gone, whilst Lorenzo moves onto 116 and Marquez, remarkably in his first season in MotoGP, strengthens his position in third ahead of Crutchlow with 93 points. – AFP