Lorenzo Romps To Mugello Win

May 31, 2015
3 min read

Jorge Lorenzo obliterated the field after a display of utter riding perfection in Mugello. The Yamaha rider got the holeshot at the start and took the lead from Andrea Dovizioso at turn nine. From then on he just stroked his M1 home, building up a gap of over eight-seconds to the chasing pack. Now on his third successive win this season, the Spaniard is very much a threat in this championship.

Lorenzo now equals the great Giacomo Agostini's record of 88 podium finishes.

Andrea Iannone put in another heroic performance this weekend, holding off a race long charge from Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi. As others faltered, the Maniac gritted his teeth to take a career best 2nd place finish in front of his home crowd. Team-mate Dovizioso was forced to retire due to rear chattering on his GP15, whilst Michele Pirro finished a solid 8th.

Rossi, the man the entire 90,477 strong crowd came to see, struggled at the start. He fell to 11th and spent the first half-dozen laps trying to pass the Tech 3 Yamaha of Pol Espargaro. Once through he was able to pick off Bradley Smith and Cal Crutchlow, and in clear air closed right up to the Iannone/Marquez/Dovizoso/Pedrosa battle. His compatriot was the first to succumb, then Marquez and Pedrosa. But, by this time Rossi had burnt out his tyres and overtaking Iannone became a futile thing. Importantly though, he still hangs onto his championship lead by six points heading into the next round in Barcelona.

Marc Marquez put a disappointing qualifying behind him to blitz through the field in the opening laps, getting as high as 2nd by the third lap. The Repsol Honda rider didn't look settled in his attempts to hold off the Ducati duo; he struggled to slow down the bike and get it turned in on a number of occasions despite running the hard front. Clearly front grip and rear stability were an issue, and this became apparent when he crashed with seven laps to go at turn three – the front-end tucking out from underneath the Spaniard.

Cal Crutchlow was another Honda running the hard front tyre and it appeared as if it was working well for him. Despite riding in a considerable amount of pain following a heavy crash in morning warm up, Cal was keeping Bradley Smith at bay on the Tech 3 Yamaha. That was until he crashed going through turn eight with three laps to go when the front-end folded. As a result Smith takes top Satellite and British honours once again.

Dani Pedrosa was a solid 4th as he works to get his arm back up to full fitness following arm pump surgery. The Honda rider was able to stay with the podium bunch for almost all of the contest, displaying the kind of form we'd expect from Dani which suggests that he is regaining his strength.

Maverick Vinales took top Suzuki plaudits after a strong 7th place finish. Aleix Espargaro's race was ended early when he was taken down by Danilo Petrucci at turn one on the third lap. At the time of writing the incident was is still under investigation.

Loris Baz finished as top open runner in 12th at a circuit that really does go against the tall Frenchman on the Forward Yamaha. Hector Barbera, Alvaro Bautista and Eugene Laverty complete the points scoring psoitions.

2015 Gran Premio d'Italia TIM: Results

1st Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

2nd Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team

3rd Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

4th Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

5th Bradley Smith, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

6th Pol Espargaro, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

7th Maverick Vinales, Team Suzuki Ecstar

8th Michele Pirro, Ducati Team

9th Danilo Petrucci, Pramac Racing Ducati

10th Yonny Hernandez, Pramac Racing Ducati

11th Scott Redding, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda