Lorenzo extends championship lead with spirited win at Silverstone

[In a day that once again saw three fantastic races across the MotoGP™ classes at the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone, it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo who recorded a hard-fought victory in the premier-class ahead of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

The predicted rain stayed away for the MotoGP grid as Yamaha’s Ben Spies took the holeshot ahead of R

[J.Lorenzo

epsol Honda Team’s Stoner and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s pole-sitter Álvaro Bautista. Spies made a tremendous start leading the early stages from Stoner, Bautista and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden. Lorenzo lost a place in the first bends, and was soon leading a separated group for fifth place.

With 17 laps remaining Lorenzo started to find his rhythm as he looked to close the gap to the front fo

ur, followed by Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Soon after, Stoner made a move past Spies, as the Texan made a mistake, going too hot into a turn.

More overtaking was to follow, as Lorenzo took advantage of a gap left by Hayden to hunt down Bautista. With Stoner

[C.Stoner

having pulled out a small gap at the front, Lorenzo did not want his rival to get away and forced his way past Bautista, relegating the San Carlo rider into fourth. The tussle was not to stop, as Lorenzo stormed past his teammate into second, with Spies being overtaken by Bautista as well a corner later.

With 11 laps left Lorenzo was closing in on the rear wheel of Stoner, starting a thrilling battle for top spot. On the same lap Dovizioso crashed out of his positions, while his teammate Cal Crutchlow fought past LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl into seventh. Heading into lap nine, Lorenzo took Stoner on the final turn, yet the Australian fought straight back in the next turn, as the pair kept the crowd on their toes with some thrilling moves.

A lap further on, the duo of Pedrosa and Bautista started to slowly close the gap on Stoner, who looked to be slowing.

[D.Pedrosa

With six laps left it turned into a three-way battle for second place, as Lorenzo was opening a gap at the front. The Spaniard suffered a slight scare with four laps left as he was almost thrown from his bike, but he managed to save it and retain the lead, albeit with a reduced gap to the pursuing Stoner. In the latter stages there were thrilling battles further back as Crutchlow battled past Hayden into sixth, and Power Electronics Aspar pair Aleix Espargaró and Randy de Puniet were fairing to fairing until the finish line.

In the end it was Lorenzo who held his nerve to cross the finish line first to take the top step of the podium and extend his championship lead, ahead of Stoner and Pedrosa who complete the rostrum. Stoner stated after the race he felt there was an issue with his rear tyre. Fourth went to Álvaro Bautista, ahead of Ben Spies, and Cal Crutchlow, who put in a brave ride with his injury. The top ten were completed Hayden, Bradl, Ducati’s Rossi and Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá. Top CRT spot once again went to Espargaró ahead of his teammate in 11th, while Dovizioso remounted after his crash to finish 19th.

[In a thrilling Moto2™ race it was Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró who took victory at the Hertz British Grand Prix in

[P.Espargaró

Silverstone ahead of Scott Redding and Marc Márquez.

The race was declared dry from the start and it was Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith who got the holeshot along with Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding. They made it a British one-two in the opening two laps as they were tussling for top spot. With 16 laps to go, the following group of Espargaró, Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone and Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez made their move on Smith, who looked to be struggling, and tucked in behind leader Redding.

Meanwhile it was drama early on for JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco, who crashed out and finished his race prematurely. With 14 laps left, a group of seven riders were pulling away from the pack also including Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi and Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti. Two laps later it appeared as Redding and Espargaró were pulling out a slight advantage at the front, as Iannone and Márquez were involved in an exciting fight for the final podium spot. Yet just one lap later Espargaró pounced on Redding to take the lead, after which Iannone took advantage to slip into second.

Espargaró’s teammate Axel Pons crashed out with 10 laps to go, putting an end to a disappointing weekend for the Spaniard. A lap later Márquez got into Redding’s slipstream to pass the Brit further down into fourth and hunt down the leaders. With Márquez not wanting Espargaró to get away, he overtook Iannone with seven laps left, with Redding also pushing past the Italian. The tussle for second was spicing up between Redding and Márquez as the two swapped positions frequently in the final laps and on the last lap it was an almighty fight to the line with Redding just edging out the Spaniard, much to the delight of the home crowd

Yet in the end it was Espargaró who took the chequered flag for his second win this season, with Redding and Márquez occupying the final podium spots. They were followed by Andrea Iannone, Simone Corsi, Claudio Corti, Bradley Smith, Tom Lüthi, Technomag-CIP’s Dominique Aegerter and Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio.

[At this weekend’s Moto3™ race at the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone it was Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales who took a hard-fought victory in front of Luis Salóm and Sandro Cortese.

In the best conditions seen all weekend the Moto3™ contingent got underway with Caretta Technology’s Alexis

[M.Viñales

Masbou getting the holeshot in front of JHK T-Shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez. However in true Moto3™ fashion a group at the front soon formed with Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales, RW Racing GP’s Luis Salóm, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Sandro Cortese, Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi and Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati.

Masbou’s teammate Jack Miller was an early crasher on lap one, whilst Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins also crashed out with 16 laps to go. Miller suffered a fractured left collarbone, whilst Rins suffered a fracture to his second metacarpus on his left hand, and a fracture to his second finger on his right hand. The front group was being led in stages by a mix of Viñales, Salóm and Vázquez, while Cortese and Rossi were touching fairings behind.

With 13 laps remaining, IodaRacing Team’s Jonas Folger’s bad luck continued as his race finished early, with British wild card entrant John McPhee from the Racing Steps Foundation KRP crashing out, but managing to remount. With eight laps left, Giulian Pedone suffered a problem, as his race ended prematurely. Two laps later Viñales tried to make a break as the field started to stretch slightly, however Salóm and Cortese were sticking closely to the leader’s tail. It was heartbreak for Mahindra Racing’s local boy Danny Webb, as he was forced to retire in front of his home crowd.

It was a nail-biting last lap as Cortese took Salóm for second, who had been fighting with Viñales. Yet Salóm was battling until the end and put in a tough move to regain second. It was drama for Le Mans race-winner Rossi who lost the front end in the final turns, as he missed out on the scrap to the line. The race ended with Viñales crossing the finish line to take his third victory this season and the championship lead, ahead of Salóm and Cortese, who complete the podium. They finished ahead of Masbou in fourth, followed by Vázquez, Kent, Fenati, Sissis, Khairuddin and Oliveira.