Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi fought a hard battle today to score a double podium finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi put up a strong fight today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take their sixth double Yamaha podium of the year, scoring second and third respectively.
Lorenzo started from third on the grid and took the holeshot as the field bunched up in the first corner. He put his head down to clear off at the front closely followed by rival Marc Marquez behind, the two racing with less than 0,3s between them.
The Yamaha rider kept the pace up lap after lap with an inch perfect performance and led until three laps remained, Marquez making his move going into turn one to take the lead. Lorenzo tried to pass back, but was unable to make it stick and had to settle for second place, 0,688s from the front.
Teammate Rossi had a great start from eighth on the grid, climbing up two places going into the first twisty section, and crossed the line for the first time in fifth. He soon passed Andrea Iannone and put the hammer down in order to close a 0,4s gap to Dani Pedrosa in third. With 20 laps to go he was the only rider lapping in the 1’32s and he reached the back of his rival’s bike seven laps later. The tense battle that followed ended with the Italian passing the Spaniard going into turn two, but the race was far from decided.
The Doctor then continued his charge towards the front pack before again getting involved in a scrap with the chasing Pedrosa. Despite the Spaniard’s best efforts Rossi was determined to claim the final spot on the podium, exiting the fight in front to finish in third +5.966s behind the race winner.
Lorenzo’s well-deserved second place puts him on 186 points, 9 points behind championship leader Rossi, who holds a total of 195 points.
Jorge Lorenzo
2nd / +0.688s / 27 laps
“It could have been worse and it could have been better. Second place in MotoGP is always a very good result because these are the best riders in the world, so to fight for the win and lead for so many laps during the race is difficult. I pushed a lot from the start in every corner and I probably lost more energy than Marc, who was following me. When he attacked I really didn’t have enough energy and I wasn’t fresh enough to make an attack on him, so I recovered four points on Vale and lost five points to Marc, but he’s still quite far behind in the championship. I think we should celebrate this result after a difficult weekend and my crash from this morning. I am satisfied, let’s see what happens in the next race.”
Valentino Rossi
3rd / +5.966s / 27 laps
“At one moment Jorge was in front and I was fourth so I would have lost twelve points. I had to try at the maximum because these points for third are more important for me than for Dani. I gave my all and it was very difficult because this track, with this temperature and humidity is very demanding, but I’m happy at the end because it was a good race and I had a good pace. The problem is the qualifying, we struggle too much in the practice and we arrive with a little bit too much of a delay before finding a good setting. Starting from the third row is always difficult. I started well and I was fast on the first laps so, if I would have been able to start from the second row, I would have been able to stay with Marc and Jorge until the end of the race. We have to work hard on this, starting from Brno.”
Massimo Meregalli – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“This is a really important double podium at a difficult track for us and we led 90% of the race. Jorge was very close to the win today and we couldn’t ask anything more from him, he gave his all. He started this Grand Prix strongly and the bike was working quite well the entire weekend. Valentino was able to make a step this morning and it’s a pity that he started from the third row. Had he started closed to the front he would have been able to stay closer to the leaders, but we still lead the championship. A big thank you to the team, they have done a great job. Next we are going to Brno with high motivation where we will aim to progress even further and try to build on this momentum.”
Smith meets chequered flag in 6th at the Brickyard
Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Bradley Smith conquered the Indianapolis Grand Prix with a 6th place finish aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 for round 10 of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship today. The British rider had a good start from the rear of the second row and completed the opening lap in 7th. Smith jumped past his teammate on the next lap and with him still hot on his heels, he set into his formidable race pace and pulled away from Espargaro whilst homing in on Andrea Iannone on the Factory Ducati. With 10 laps having been completed, the 24 year old was still running in 6th and confident of closing the gap to the rider in front. As the lap numbers counted down, Smith upped his pace, setting his personal best on the 23rd as he continued to reel in the Ducati in front. The fight went right down to the final lap and the British star completed the 27 lap sprint just two tenths of a second behind 5th place and as the leading satellite rider once again.
On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team garage, Pol Espargaro produced a solid effort to clinch 7th position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in front of a crowd of 68,000 fans today. The 24 year old stormed off the fourth row of the grid and finished the first lap in a fantastic 6th place. After exchanging some passes with his teammate and dropping back one position, he dug deep as he intended to climb through the field but ran wide on the 10th lap, which allowed Cal Crutchlow to pass him. He then became locked in a tough battle, however the relentless Spaniard powered onwards and took 7th back off Crutchlow on lap 14. The race distance progressed and the pair swapped positions again with Espargaro dropping back to 8th but the 2014 MotoGP Rookie of the year remained confident about reclaiming the position in front and made some aggressive steps forward. On the penultimate lap, he lunged inside Crutchlow to snatch 7th and cross the finish line in this position after a hard fought race.
Bradley Smith
6th / +21.751 / 27 laps
“I have to be happy with the result today as it was another step forward. My most important objective was to start the second half of the season strong and keep the same level of performance from the beginning of the year, which I have been able to do. This weekend, the team always remained focused on the job ahead and it was capped by a strong result today making it a great weekend. However, I made a mistake at the start and I actually began the race with no launch control in first gear as I had changed to second just before the lights went out. Yet despite that, it was better than I expected and I won’t be making that mistake again in Brno! After the warm up this morning, I was a bit worried that we could struggle as it seemed that we did not have the pace at the beginning of the race but the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team and Bridgestone worked their magic for me and gave me a fantastic package. I must admit that I am a little disappointed that I couldn’t get past Iannone for 5th position but I was closer than I was in Sachsenring, so lets try and make another step in Brno.”
Pol Espargaro
7th / +30.378 / 27 laps
“Of course I can’t be completely satisfied with today’s result. Unfortunately I had to face the same issue which I have experienced some other times which is concerning the handling of the bike on new tyres and on full fuel load because it changes a lot. Therefore, I’m struggling to put my M1 into the positions I would like to do because it feels really heavy. Later at the midpoint of the race my rhythm became stronger and I could make up some time, but not as much as I lost at the beginning and when I started to get tired towards the end of the race, because I’m fighting with the bike, things didn’t get easier. Yet, we have to take some positives from today as I was able to pass Cal in the final stages of the race and reach the chequered flag in 7th position. Now we will keep working on trying to improve this circumstance for the next round which is right around the corner.”
2015 MotoGP United States
Indianapolis 09/08/2015
race I
1 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 41’55.371
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 0’00.688
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0’05.966
4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0’06.147
5 Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 0’21.528
6 Bradley Smith Yamaha GBR 0’21.751
7 Pol Espargaro Yamaha ESP 0’30.378
8 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 0’31.607
9 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 0’32.821
10 Danilo Petrucci Ducati ITA 0’34.517
11 Maverick Viñales Suzuki ESP 0’39.010
12 Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 0’41.815
13 Scott Redding Honda GBR 0’50.209
14 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki ESP 1’00.465
15 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1’04.147
MotoGP World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 10 of 18
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 195
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 186
3. Marc Marquez Honda ESP 139
4. Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 129
5. Bradley Smith Yamaha GBR 97
6. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 94
7. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 80
8. Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 74
9. Pol Espargaro Yamaha ESP 73
10. Maverick Viñales Suzuki ESP 62
11. Danilo Petrucci Ducati ITA 57
12. Aleix Espargaro Suzuki ESP 46
13. Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 36
14. Scott Redding Honda GBR 33
15. Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 20
16. Loris Baz Yamaha FRA 14
Circuit Length:
4186
Weather:
Cloudy
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’31.619
(Marc Marquez, 10-8-2014)
Last Years Winner:
Marc Marquez
