Jorge Lorenzo

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Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo took an emphatic third victory of the season at Indianapolis this afternoon, halving Valentino Rossi’s championship lead in the process as his Fiat Yamaha team-mate slid out. The determined Spaniard was joined on the podium by Alex de Angelis and Nicky Hayden, with Tech 3 Yamaha riders Colin Edwards and James Toseland both putting in good rides to finish fifth and sixth.

Dani Pedrosa took the hole shot with Rossi in close pursuit but Lorenzo got a poor start, forcing him to make one of his favourite ‘por fuera’ moves, around the outside of three riders. The leading trio quickly pulled several seconds ahead of the chasing pack but on lap four Pedrosa slid out, leaving the Yamaha pair alone once again at the front. There was little between the rival team-mates and on the ninth of 27 laps Lorenzo made a brilliant move on Rossi, passing him on the brakes into turn one. Just two laps later the World Champion ran slightly wide and, finding himself on a dirty part of the track, lost the front and went down. He remounted in 16th place but a problem with his throttle forced him to retire soon after.

With no other challengers in sight, Lorenzo just had to bring his number 99 Yamaha home safely and he did so in fine style to win the second Indianapolis Grand Prix, in the Centenary year of the historic track. The youngster has now cut Rossi’s lead to 25 points with five rounds remaining and just one week before the second of Rossi’s home races at Misano in Italy.

“This is fantastic for me and for my team! I’ve had two crashes in a row but now I’ve won, and my closest rivals have crashed instead. Of course I’m sorry for them but these are the highs and lows of racing and it’s an amazing result for me. I was strong all weekend and I really want to thank my team for giving me a great bike. I had a hard start and I had to try very hard to pass people and get back to third, but then I had a good rhythm and I was able to go with Valentino and Dani. Once Dani had gone I knew it would be a hard fight between me and Valentino and in fact when he crashed I didn’t realise for a while, because I misread my pit-board and thought it said +0! Anyway, my bike was great and from then on it was quite easy, I just stayed focused. I had great fun on the slow-down lap with the fans and I am so happy to win here at this amazing track. The championship was almost gone but in one day things have changed a lot. It will be hard but we won’t give up!”

“Today is a disappointment of course! We struggled here with the setting all weekend but we made an improvement today and I got a good start and was able to stay in touch with Pedrosa. Once he fell, I knew it would be between Jorge and I but I honestly don’t know how it would have finished, because Jorge was very fast today. Of course, it would have been better to have finished second than not to finish at all! Unfortunately I ran wide on to a dirty part of the track at turn one and lost the front. I tried to carry on but there was a problem with my throttle and it wasn’t possible. I want to congratulate Jorge for his victory and now we look forward to coming back to the front at Misano. We are still leading the championship and this is the most important thing.”

	Results
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 47’13.592 2. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 9.435 3. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team + 12.947 4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda + 13.478 5. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 26.254 6. James Toseland (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 32.408 7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 34.400 8. Mika Kallio (FIN) Ducati Marlboro Team + 34.856 9. Toni Elias (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 45.005 10. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda + 45.377 11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 45.478 12. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP + 52.294 13. Alex Espagaro (SPA) Pramac Racing + 1’03.552 14. Gabor Talmacsi (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP + 1’15.086 NOT CLASSIFIED Marco Melandri (ITA) Hayate Racing Team 3 Lap Niccolo Canepa (ITA) Pramac Racing 5 Lap Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 16 Lap Championship Standings 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 212 2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 187 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 141 4. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 137 5. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 123 6. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda 120 7. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 86 8. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 85 9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 84 10. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 84 11. Marco Melandri (ITA) Hayate Racing Team 78 12. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 77 13. Toni Elias (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 74 14. James Toseland (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 71 15. Mika Kallio (FIN) Ducati Marlboro Team 42 16. Niccolo Canepa (ITA) Pramac Racing 32 17. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Grupo Francisco Hernando 12 18. Gabor Talmacsi (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP 10 19. Yuki Takahashi (JPN) Scot Racing Team 8 20. Alex Espagaro (SPA) Pramac Racing 3
	Indianapolis: Record Lap V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2008, 1’49.668
	Indianapolis: Best Lap