Drying Track Swings Championship Back In Rossi's Favour

Movistar Yamaha were set for a dominant Sunday after qualifying 1-2 on the grid, some four tenths clear of the field and just 0.081s between each other. Rain on race day mixed up the permutations, with Valentino Rossi looking like the one to benefit most.

But it was Jorge Lorenzo who got the jump on his team-mate at turn four on the opening lap and took command of the race. The Spaniard checked out immediately, opening the gap up to nearly a second by the end of the first lap and eventually stretching his advantage to over three seconds by half distance.

By this time the track was beginning to dry out, and this was to become a major problem. Lorenzo had used up more of his front tyre building his lead over Rossi, so when a dry line began to appear his front grip disappeared rapidly. Rossi was also struggling. He too had pushed his front tyre trying to break the resolve of Andrea Dovizioso in the early stages, but his rubber was in a slightly better condition than that of his team-mate's.

The Honda of Dani Pedrosa took the lead from Lorenzo with seven laps to go, and a five-point deficit in the championship returned to a fourteen-point one. A couple of laps later, Rossi transformed Lorenzo's gulf to eighteen points after using the slight advantage in grip to pass him at turn four.

Motegi is a difficult track for Rossi, but yet again he's left a bogey circuit with a podium. The ball is firmly back in his court now with three rounds left, but Lorenzo isn't giving up the fight just yet.

Phillip Island awaits!

“Physically it wasn't so bad, but mentally it was very hard to always keep the concentration, because it's very easy to make a mistake. At the beginning we had a good pace, but Jorge was stronger than me and was able to create a small advantage. After that my pace was good, I stayed with him and tried not to lose more time and used it as a motivation to keep my concentration, but when the track started to dry everything became more difficult. The tyre gave up and started spinning a lot on the straight and Dani (Pedrosa) arrived. It was a difficult situation, because if Dani beat me and not Jorge I would have lost nine points after Aragon. I was able to do three or four very strong laps behind Dani and catch Jorge, who then made a mistake. I took an additional four-point advantage, which was our target, so we are happy. The track was a lot better when it was fully wet, because the tyres worked well. Whe it starts to dry up it feels like you are in a boat at seas, the bike moves everywhere. Three or four times when I touched the throttle I felt the go and said “no, no, no!”, so it was difficult, lots of stress.”

“It was a pity because I think that on the dry I was the fastest and the more consistent rider. Also in the rain I was very fast, but unfortunately the track dried up and my push at the beginning of the race probably made my tyre and a bit worse that Valentino's and Dani's. When the track was almost dry, my front tyre was destroyed and I couldn't ride like before. For this race it was important to finish in front of Valentino, but the championship is not over, because I remember in 2013 I was even further from Marquez in the standings and I lost the championship by just over four points. Eighteen points is a lot, but if I win all the race and another rider finishes between me and Valentino, I can still win the championship.”

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