Catalunya MotoGP: Back-to-back Ducati wins for dominant Lorenzo
Jorge Lo🎃renzo made it back-t🍌o-back wins on the Ducati as he dominated Sunday’s Catalunya MotoGP for his second victory of the season.
Lorenzo’s team-ma𒁃te, Andrea Dovizioso, suffered a huge championship setback as the Italian slid out of third place at Turn 5.
Jorge Lorenzo made it back-to-back wins on the Ducati as he d🅺ominated Sunday’s Cata🦂lunya MotoGP for his second victory of the season.
Lorenzo’s team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, suffered a huge championship setback a❀s the Italian slid out of third place at Turn 5.
Following on f🌊rom his breakthrough victory on the Desmosedici at Mugello, Lorenzo bagged his maiden pole for the Italian manufacturer at Catalunya and rode a faultless race to claim a maximum 25 points from Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, who dramatically lost time on the final lap but still heldജ off Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi to seal the runner-up spot.
It was Marquez who made a flying start from the front row to snatch the lead, with Ecstar Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone powering through into second place on t✅he GSX-R♊R ahead of Lorenzo.
Iannone was in a hurry and wasted no time in making a swoop for the lead on lap one, although he🧸 drifted wide, allowing Marquez back into the♛ lead with Lorenzo also capitalising on the Suzuki rider’s error.
Marquez led over the line at the end of lap one but Lorenzo dived past on the brake🐻s into Turn 1 to move to the front.
The three-time pr🎶emier class champion was never headed for the remainder of the race, with Marquez able to hang on to the rear of the Ducati without being quite able to get close enough to mount an ✤attack.
Dovizioso was in contention behind Marquez when last year’s championship runner-up went down, sliding into the gravel as🐻 his bid came to a premature halt.
That left Rossi cl🍌ear in third, while Iannone had now dropped down the field on the Suzuki after his early charge.
With Lorenzo in control at the front from Marquez and Rꦜossi a long way back inও a safe third, a battle developed for fourth involving Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.
Petrucci eventually dropped back, with Britain’s Crutchlow getting the better of Pedrosa to slot into fourth while Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) and Johann Zarco (Monster Tech 3 Yamaha) gained some ground in the closing stages of the race, both riders also finding a way 𝔉past Petrucci.
Lorenzo really began to up the antꩲe with around 14 laps remaining and broke clear, opening a lead of around eight tenths over Marquez.
He controlled the raඣce on the Ducati, edging further ahead, and could afford a wave to the crowd on his final lap as Marquez suddenly began to𓃲 slip into the clutches of Rossi.
As it was the top three remain𒐪ed unchanged, with Lorenzo taking the win by 4.4 seconds, while Marquez he༒ld off Rossi by around 1.5 seconds for the runner-up spot.
Crutchlow was 3.8 seconds back on Rossi in fourth, while Pedrosa narrowly kept Vinales at bay ꦆas♕ they completed the top six.
Zarco and Petr꧒ucci were seventh and eighth respectively, with Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati) and Iannone finalising ൲the top ten.
Pol Espargaro was next on the Red Bull KTM ahead of Scot🦄t Red𒀰ding (Gresini Aprilia) in 12th, Karel Abraham (Nieto Ducati) and Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda).
Bradley Smith was among the non-finishers on the KTM after he was wiped🧔 out by Takaaki Nakagami.
Mika Kallio was sent to the medical centre for a check-up following his spill, while Tito Rabat was forced out when his Avi🌞ntia Ducati suffered a terminal 🥃failure.
