Photography by Gold & Goose
Jorge Lorenzo dominated the Grand Prix of Aragon Sunday in front of 67,000 fans. The Movistar Yamaha ace led from flag to flag. Behind him was a fierce late-race battle between Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi on the other factory Yamaha. Pedrosa held off repeated charges by Rossi to nail down second.
While Lorenzo clawed back points he needed to gain on Rossi in the standings (it’s now a 14-point gap, 263-249) the defending world champ Marc Marquez had another brutal race. He crashed out his factory Honda on the second lap while running second and trying to close in on Lorenzo.
When Lorenzo saw his pit board that said ‘Marquez Out’ you’d have to imagine he was conflicted. On one hand he would have a clearer path to victory, but there was suddenly one less rider to provide a points cushion between himself and Rossi.
In the end Lorenzo brought his Yamaha home to the checkered flag by 2.863-seconds over Pedrosa. Rossi secured the final podium spot, just behind Pedrosa.
It was the sixth win of the year for Lorenzo, his 39th-career MotoGP victory.
“As always I make a real good start,” Lorenzo said. “My strategy was to ride at the maximum. It worked well, because I think Marquez was quite at the limit to follow me. I think in the second lap he recovered some gap, but I didn’t expect his crash. So when I saw the board that he’s crashed I breathed much more deep. But anyway I have Dani by 2.7, but then I couldn’t open so much more gap. He stay there 3.0, 3.2 and I really needed to push all this race to keep the distance.”
Lorenzo got a great start and pulled away early. It was on the second lap that Marquez pitched away his factory Honda at turn 12, losing edge grip and lowsiding before spinning around, all the while holding on to the bars in desperate hope he might be able to get going again. Unfortunately for Marquez the bike proved too damaged and he walked away dejected.
After the race Marquez bravely addressed the media. “I just need to say sorry to the team and sorry to the fans because it was completely my mistake,” Marquez said. “We worked really well to try to win the race. The start was not perfect, but OK. On the second lap I was closer to Jorge, but then maybe the wind was pushing a little bit and yeah, it was completely my fault.”
Back on the track it was Lorenzo’s race all the way. At mid-race he controlled his lead at just over three second. Behind him Rossi shadowed second-place Pedrosa lap after lap, waiting patiently to try to make a move, which would give the Italian and precious extra four world championship points.
With five laps to go Rossi, who’d largely been biding his time, really began to pressure Pedrosa. He made two stabs at getting by mid-lap, but both times he wasn’t quite able to make the pass stick. Again at turns one and four with four to go Rossi tried again, but each time Pedrosa responded. If Rossi was to take second Pedrosa was making it clear it was not going to be without a fight. With just two laps to go Rossi went again into second into turn one, but like before Pedrosa replied and took back the lead on the exit of the turn.
The second-place battle reached a crescendo on the final lap. Rossi made yet another pass on Pedrosa in turn four and appeared this time to have made it stick, but Pedrosa, showing aggression he rarely displays, came charging back underneath Rossi in turn seven. Perhaps Pedrosa instinctively knew Rossi had a lot more to lose if the fight turned ugly. Finally Rossi made one more desperate stab late in the lap, but he was far too hot into the turn and Pedrosa easily slipped back by and went on to secure the runner-up spot. It was perhaps one of the greatest second-place battles in a long time and one that meant a great deal to both riders.
Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, riding still with a sore shoulder he separated in a training accident, came home a lonely fourth, five seconds behind Rossi. His teammate Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top five.
American Nicky Hayden finished 15th aboard his Aspar Honda, just being edged out by his teammate Eugene Laverty.
The series now makes its Pacific swing with Japan, Australia and Malaysia the next three rounds. The Grand Prix of Japan at the Twin Ring Motegi is up next on October 11.
Results of the Grand Prix of Aragon MotoGP – Sept. 27, 2015
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 167.8 41’44.933
2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 167.6 +2.683
3 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 167.6 +2.773
4 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 167.3 +7.858
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 166.2 +24.322
6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 166.2 +24.829
7 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 166.1 +25.367
8 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 166.1 +25.503
9 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 166.0 +26.452
10 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 164.9 +43.889
11 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 164.9 +44.255
12 45 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 164.6 +48.176
13 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 164.5 +49.755
14 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 164.5 +50.271
15 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 164.5 +50.364
16 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 164.5 +50.722
17 76 Loris BAZ FRA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 164.4 +51.997
18 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 164.3 +53.406
19 43 Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 164.1 +56.859
20 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 163.9 +59.607
21 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 162.9 +1’15.237
Not Classified
17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE AB Motoracing Honda 160.6 12 Laps
9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 166.0 14 Laps
15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 162.4 18 Laps
93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 165.4 22 Laps
