Photography by Gold & Goose
Jorge Lorenzo made a resounding comeback Sunday with a victory in the Grand Prix of Spain at Jerez in front of 122,000 fans. Lorenzo dominated the day on his factory Movistar Yamaha, running away to a 5.576-second victory over defending MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez. Marquez turned in a gutsy performance on his Repsol Honda, riding with a broken finger on his left hand. Series leader Valentino Rossi took third on a Yamaha. Rossi narrowed the gap on Marquez three-quarters of the way into the race, but Marquez was able to respond and ended up six-seconds ahead of Rossi.
It was a red-letter day in the Yamaha camp with Sunday marking the first win of the season for Lorenzo, his 34th premier class win and the 200th-career podium for Rossi.
“First I have to enjoy this win,” Lorenzo said when asked if this would be the type of performance we might expect from him from this point. “It’s very difficult to get. It was an impressive pace. I was feeling very good on the bike, especially on braking, which is normally where I struggle on Sundays. But this time all the weekend has been perfect. I didn’t lose any 10th anywhere, so I feel fast everywhere on the track. So I could take advantage of my speed and win this special race after a long time.”
With his podium Rossi built on his lead the standings after four of 18 rounds. He now leads Andrea Dovizioso 82-67. The victory moved Lorenzo into third with 62 points.
Lorenzo nailed the start and led the early laps with Marquez emerging in second. It didn’t take long for those two to separate from the rest of the field. On lap three Rossi moved past Pol Espargaro to take third. He was about two seconds behind the leading duo.
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso ran off the track early and dropped to 25th. Mike Di Meglio and Karel Abraham were early fallers. Both were OK. Di Meglio was able to rejoin the race.
Five laps in and it appeared Marquez was struggling to keep the pace of the leader. He fell off the draft of the leader. Meantime Rossi was losing ground on Marquez as the top three spread out. Cal Crutchlow caught and was probing Pol Espargaro in a battle for fourth. Then there was a fair gap back to Aleix Espargaro in sixth.
Loris Baz crashed in turn one on lap 10.
At the halfway point Lorenzo had broken away to a four-second lead. Marquez was a steady second, but Rossi trying to chip away at the gap. Crutchlow broke through to fourth over Pol Espargaro. Aleix Espargaro was battling hard with Andrea Iannone for sixth.
Hiroshi Aoyama crashed out his Repsol Honda just past mid-race.
In the closing laps Lorenzo controlled his lead at 4.6 seconds. Rossi closed the gap to second-place Marquez to 1.3 seconds, but Marquez was able to respond and open back some daylight on Rossi.
Crutchlow was a lonely fourth. Pol Espargaro ran fifth, but Iannone was threatening. Aleix Espargaro and Bradley Smith battled over seventh. Dovizioso recovered from his early off-track excursion to make it back into the top-10, running ninth. A great five-rider battle for 10th was going on headed by Yonny Hernandez.
American Nicky Hayden finished 17th on his Aspar Honda.
The series next moves to Le Mans in France on May 17.
Grand Prix of Spain MotoGP results from Jerez – May 3, 2015
1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 159.3 44’57.246
2 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 159.0 +5.576
3 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 158.7 +11.586
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR CWM LCR Honda Honda 158.0 +22.727
5 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 157.8 +26.620
6 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 157.8 +27.021
7 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 157.3 +35.445
8 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 157.2 +36.296
9 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 156.9 +41.933
10 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Pramac Racing Ducati 156.4 +51.072
11 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 156.3 +51.674
12 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 156.3 +52.421
13 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 156.3 +53.052
14 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 156.3 +53.200
15 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 156.0 +57.344
16 Stefan BRADL GER Athinà Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 155.9 +59.018
17 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 155.8 +1’01.506
18 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 155.7 +1’03.163
19 Marco MELANDRI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 155.5 +1’06.895
20 Jack MILLER AUS CWM LCR Honda Honda 155.1 +1’14.182
21 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM Octo IodaRacing Team ART 154.4 +1’26.832
22 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 151.7 1 Lap
Not Classified
7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Repsol Honda Team Honda 156.1 13 Laps
76 Loris BAZ FRA Athinà Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 155.2 19 Laps
17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE AB Motoracing Honda 151.8 24 Laps
