Catalunya Grand Prix blows hot and cold for Catalan riders

Barcelona (CNA).- Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo is now further ahead in the MotoGP Championship due to his victory over main rivals Dani Pedrosa, who ended second, and Australian Casey Stoner that crossed the finish line in fourth position. In Moto2 the main local favourites, Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró clashed three laps before the end of the course in an accident that let Espargaró out of the race and Márquez back in third position. Italian Andrea Iannone came in first. In Moto3, the Catalan hopeful Maverick Viñales demonstrated once again that he is the main favourite to win the Moto3 championship, leading the Catalunya Grand Prix from beginning to end. Despite the cloudy weather, rain fell only during the MotoGP warm up allowing the racers to go ahead with the gameplans they had been preparing all weekend.

Lorenzo consolidates leading position

In MotoGP, Jorge Lorenzo is now a clear leader in his category, due to victory after a hard duel with Catalan Dani Pedrosa, who finished second, and the poor race of Australian Casey Stoner, who crossed the finish line in fourth position.

At the beginning of the race, Pedrosa used the best of his abilities to get ahead followed by Lorenzo and the Italian rider Dovizioso. Stoner, who obtained pole position on Saturday, demonstrated from the beginning of the race that it was not going to be his day losing five positions at the start.       

The blistering pace set by Pedrosa and Lorenzo in first and second position respectively opened a huge gap between them and their rivals Dovizioso, Stoner and Crutchlow and initiated a tough duel between Pedrosa and Lorenzo with Lorenzo coming out top.

Jorge Lorenzo left Catalonia with a 20-point distance over Casey Stoner who ended an incredible run of 19 consecutive podiums.   

Crash between the favourites

At the beginning of the weekend all the attention in the Moto2 category was on the two Catalan riders Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró and nobody could imagine that one of them, Espargaró would leave the Circuit de Catalunya with a severe ankle injury and that Márquez would only be able to end third.  

From the beginning of the race Márquez demonstrated that he was able to keep up a good pace followed by Iannone and Luthi. Espargaró did not get off to a great start, but little by little crept up the leader board. Overtaking manoeuvres between the four riders were non stop and in one of them Márquez could not see Espargaró, who was coming fast behind him, and both crashed. This action left Espargaró out of the race with a hard blow to the ankle which initially meant a penalty for Marc Márquez, although the Committee of Appeals of the International Motorcycle Federation has accepted the appeal made by Marc Márquez’s team and the penalty has been withdrawn. 

The victory was finally for Italian rider Andrea Iannone who could benefit from the mistakes made by Márquez and Espargaró, the second place was for Thomas Luthi and the third for Márquez who keeps his second position in the world championship.

A dream race

Catalan promise Maverick Viñales dominated the Moto3 race. Although he did not get off to a good start, little by little he started to charge through the field and when he made it to the lead he stayed there till the end of the race.

The superiority of the Catalan rider was clear. Six seconds behind him a group of nine riders were fighting for second and third positions. Among them was German Cortese, Spaniard Efren Vázquez, Frenchmen Rossi and Masbou, Spanish rider Faubel, Portuguese prospect Oliveira, Malaysian newcomer Khairuddin, and Catalans Àlex Rins and Alex Márquez, who did a fantastic job as a wild car rider.

The fight between this nine riders left Viñales to end the race on his own in first position followed by Cortese who, despite Viñales’ victory kept the first position of the world championship and Oliveira who maintained his third position and his first podium in the world championship.  

The perfect weekend for motorbike fans

During the three days of the Catalunya Grand Prix the roads that surround the Circuit de Catalunya have been full of motorbike fans from all over Spain and Europe. More than 140,000 spectators came to the Circuit over the weekend with 80,000 of them present during the race itself.