Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo put on a perfect performance today for the Grand Prix of San Marino, leading from the start to claim an incredible race victory at the line. The reigning World Champion was quick off the line from second position, quickly securing the front spot from Championship leader Casey Stoner into the first corner. As the Australian put the pressure on, Lorenzo responded, delivering an untouchable pace to gradually increase his lead. His flawless performance also delivered the new track record for the circuit on his 12th lap with a 1’33.906. Race winner Lorenzo was joined on the podium by legendary Yamaha rider, three time World Champion Wayne Rainey to accept the trophies. Rainey had made an emotional return to Misano this weekend for the first time in eighteen years as part of Yamaha’s 50th Anniversary of Grand Prix racing. Ben Spies worked hard today, battling the hot and humid conditions with a less than perfect set up. Having started form fourth the Texan initially dropped to seventh before slowly reeling in and passing local hero Valentino Rossi. Having despatched the Italian the hunt began for fifth and sixth place riders Simoncelli and Dovizioso. Spies was able to close the gap to less than 0.2 of a second but the battling Italians made it impossible to make a clean pass, finishing in sixth position.
Lorenzo’s stunning performance keeps the Championship alive, reducing the gap to Stoner in first to 35 points with five races remaining on the calendar. Spies picks up 10 points and holds fifth as they head to Aragon in Spain for round 14 in two weeks time.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position 1st – Time 1.33.929 – Laps 43
“Today has been an incredible day for us. I have delivered a good race; it was a very tough and long one. Most importantly we have won again and also reduced a little bit our gap to Casey. I want to dedicate this victory to Wayne who returned to Misano this weekend and I want to say thanks to all my team for their hard work. Now we have two weeks before Aragon, I hope to continue in this shape in my country. Tomorrow we will try the 1000cc Yamaha again; I am looking forward to riding my future bike. This has been one of the best days of my career!”
Ben Spies
Position 4th – Time 1.33.947 – Laps 30
“We started out with an ok set up but we didn’t really go forward all weekend, struggling a lot with edge grip. I wasn’t having a great feeling with the front either so we tried something new in warm up this morning which was honestly a disaster. We changed the front end of the bike dramatically before the race which proved to be good but took a few laps to get confidence in as it was such a big change. Once I got around Rossi I got more comfortable and was able to get to the back of Dovi and Simoncelli but was still struggling with edge grip and couldn’t get close enough to strike. I tried as hard as I could but just didn’t translate into top five this time. I need to say thanks to the team for all their hard work trying to solve the issues this weekend.”
Wilco Zeelenberg
Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“It’s a very great feeling to win again. I think Jorge rode a fantastic race, the bike looked really good and consistent over the whole race. He was pushing it to the limit but he knew he would have to do that to still have a chance at the Championship. Now we can start thinking about the last races being 35 points behind instead of more. It was good that Dani came in between to give us some extra bonus points. We need to keep on winning now!”
Massimo Meregalli
Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“A brilliant victory today, Jorge ran an unbeatable pace; this is the best possible finish to the weekend. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a really good set up for Ben here at Misano. He got good points finishing sixth which are important for the Championship. We’ll go away now and look at the data to make sure we come back fighting in Aragon in two weeks time. I have to thank the whole team who have worked extremely hard in really hot conditions here to do the best they can for both riders.”
Crutchlow makes welcome return to top 10 in Misano
Cal Crutchlow raced to a thoroughly deserved top 10 finish in today’s GP Aperol di San Marino e Riviera di Rimini in hot and humid conditions at the Misano circuit.
And Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Colin Edwards claimed his eighth successive top 10 finish, despite encountering an uncomfortable arm pump issue in the second half of the 28-lap race.
Today’s race proved to be a major test of physical endurance with hot and humid conditions dominating the 13th round of the World Championship. Super-fit Crutchlow needed to call on all his reserves of energy to claim his first top ten finish since he was a brilliant seventh in the Catalunya round.
He wa s inside the top 10 on only the third lap, Crutchlow expertly navigating pockets of light rain that had started to fall on sections of the track while the riders formed on the grid.
The British rider put immense pressure on Alvaro Bautista for the opening 16-laps before he took ninth from Edwards on lap 21. Hector Barbera dropped him back to ninth on lap 25 but Crutchlow refused to settle for 10th position and he launched a sustained attack on the Spaniard in the closing stages. Crutchlow gave his maximum effort but couldn’t find a way by Barbera, who clinched ninth by just over 0.2s.
Today’s race turned out to be a difficult experience for Edwards, who battled with factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies for the first eight laps. The 37-year-old experienced a severe arm pump issue from lap 21 onwards. The demanding humidity and hard braking zones at the 2.626 miles circuit only made the issue worse for Edwards, who bra vely rode on despite the considerable discomfort.
His courage and determination was rewarded with 13th position, a result which retains Edwards’ position as the leading non-factory rider in the standings heading to the Motorland Aragon in Spain.
Cal Crutchlow
Position 10th – Time 1.35.301 – Laps 44
“I am really pleased with the race and it is my first top 10 for a long time, so that is a good boost for my confidence. Finishing 10th was three places better than my qualifying position, so it was a positive outcome. It could have been a slightly better result but I just got pipped by Barbera right at the end. I did everything I could to get by him but I had a little issue with the rear tyre. Corner entry was really difficult at the end, so I didn’t feel like I could really push and have a go to overtake him with any confidence. His bike had a li ttle more speed than me, so I just couldn’t get close enough to have a go. My race pace was good enough for fifth in last year’s race but this year it was good enough for 10th. It just shows how far the pace has moved on and how tough it is in MotoGP. It was an unbelievably hard race for the body too. The humidity was incredible and I’m glad I do so many training miles on my bicycle because it was a real case of survival of the fittest out there. It was good that we gained a lot more experience and got another decent finish and now I can look forward to building on this result at the Motorland Aragon.”
Colin Edwards
Position 11th – Time 1.22.676 – Laps 26
“I’ve got no excuses, today’s result was nothing to do with anything else but me. I’ve no idea but for whatever reason, I just always ride so tense at this track. I kept telling myself that I needed to relax and calm down and then on the grid there’s a few rain drops in the air, so that immediately means you can’t help but be tense because you’ve no idea how hard it is coming down on other parts of the track. The front-end geometry change we made to the bike for Saturday morning made the bike feel a bit heavier and harder to change direction. I pushed as hard as I could for the first ten laps and was pretty close to Ben (Spies) and then it hit me like a pile of bricks. I got such bad arm pump I couldn’t feel the front brake or the handlebars and by the end I was just moving my arms in the direction I thought they needed to go. I’ve never had arm pump that bad and to be honest I didn’t realise you could get it that bad. It got to a point where almost pulled in. But I gritted my teeth and thought I could probably get a couple of points, which we did. But it was a complete nightmare and all I can do is put today behind and try and bounce at the Motorland Aragon in a couple of weeks.”
Hervé Poncharal – Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team Manager
“Although qualifying was difficult for Cal he had a good start and pushed really hard all through the race and I’m very pleased with his performance. He managed to catch Colin and pass him but he lost a little bit of time and that gave Barbera and Aoyama the possibility to catch him back. Then there was a really good fight between those three and I think at the end, although Barbera finished in front of him, it was a good experience for Cal. I am sure he has learnt a lot in the race and the top 10 is what we were looking for this year, so we are happy. Colin started the race really well and for the first third of the race he was really strong and pushing close to Ben. At that point we were hoping for a strong result but then I saw his time dropping and we did not really understand why. We thought maybe it was the ty re or something like that as the lap time was getting very slow. But when he came back to the garage we found out that he had an arm pump problem on both arms and they went almost numb and he could not feel anything. At some point he wanted to come into the pits, but he carried on to finish the race and get some points and I want to thank him for that and never giving up.”
2011 MotoGP San Marino
Misano, San Marino 04/09/2011 28 Laps
race I
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 44’11.877
2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0’07.299
3 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 0’11.967
4 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 0’17.353
5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 0’17.390
6 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 0’18.092
7 Valentino Rossi Ducati ITA 0’23.703
8 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 0’30.678
9 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 0’37.502
10 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0’37.720
11 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 0’39.548
12 Karel Abraham Ducati CZE 0’40.506
13 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0’53.349
14 Randy De Puniet Ducati FRA 1’02.366
15 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1’20.156
MotoGP World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 13 of 18
1. Casey Stoner Honda AUS 259
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 224
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 185
4. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 150
5. Ben Spies Yamaha USA 135
6. Valentino Rossi Ducati ITA 133
7. Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 105
8. Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 93
9. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 87
10. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 82
11. Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 69
12. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 57
13. Karel Abraham Ducati CZE 50
14. Toni Elias Honda ESP 47
15. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 45
16. Randy De Puniet Ducati FRA 29
Circuit Length:
4226
Temp:
28
Weather:
Dry
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’33.138
(Casey Stoner, 9/4/2011)
Last Years Winner:
Daniel Pedrosa
Manufacturer Standings
04/09/2011
1 Honda 305
2 Yamaha 258
3 Ducati 144
4 Suzuki 63
Team Standings
04/09/2011
1. Repsol Honda Team 393
2. Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team 359
3. Ducati Marlboro Team 238
4. San Carlo Honda Gresini 170
5. Monster Yamaha Tech3 132
6. Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 69
7. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 63
8. Pramac Racing Team 58
9. Cardion AB Motoracing 50
10. LCR Honda MotoGP 47
