MotoGP Results: Four Straight For Lorenzo At Catalunya

There is no stopping Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo at the moment as the Spanish rider led every lap of the Catalan Grand Prix to score his fourth consecutive victory and close within one point of teammate Valentino Rossi in the MotoGP championship standings.

Lorenzo led from start to finish once again to close the gap on Rossi in the standings, much to the home crowd’s delight.  The Spaniard controlled the race from the front beautifully to claim the second 1-2 of the season for his Yamaha team after Le Mans.

Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez was battling with Lorenzo for the lead in the opening stages of the race before crashing out at turn 10 on the third lap, possibly ending any chance he has of retaining his MotoGP World Championship title in the process.

Track temperatures reached almost 50 degrees (Celsius), the hottest recorded over the weekend, as the race at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya got underway. As Lorenzo led into the first corner, the number one qualifier (see One-Two Start For Suzuki here), Team Suzuki Ecstar's Aleix Espargaro, dropped down to ninth after he struggled to launch his GSX-RR off the line.

Immediately Lorenzo found his rhythm, and by the time Rossi had moved into second on lap four, the Spaniard had already establish a 1.5 second lead at the front.

Try as Rossi might, he could not make any serious impression on this gap until Lorenzo eased off on the last lap, and the nine-time World Champion had to settle for second, 0.885s behind his teammate.

Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa rode a lonely race in third, finishing over 19 seconds behind Lorenzo. Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone claimed fourth, after a great fight with Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1, with the British rider crossing the line in fifth as the leading satellite rider.

Number two qualifier Maverick Viñales on the second GSX-RR recovered from finding himself down in 11th after a disastrous start from the front row, to finish in a career-best sixth position.

Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) equalled the best result of his MotoGP career in seventh, with Stefan Bradl (Athina Forward Racing) taking the Open class win in eighth.

Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) completed the top ten, as a number of riders either crashed out or retired.

Yonny Hernandez, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, and both of the Espargaro brothers all hit the deck as only 16 riders completed the race.

CATALAN GP RACE RESULTS

NOT CLASSIFIED
Aleix ESPARGARO (41) Team Suzuki Ecstar SUZUKI
Nicky HAYDEN (69) Aspar MotoGP Team HONDA
Marco MELANDRI (33) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA
Andrea DOVIZIOSO (4) Ducati Team DUCATI
Pol ESPARGARO (44) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA
Marc MARQUEZ (93), Repsol Honda Team HONDA
Cal CRUTCHLOW (35) CWM LCR Honda HONDA
Yonny HERNANDEZ (68) Pramac Racing DUCATI