Jorge Lorenzo extended his lead at the top of the MotoGP drivers’ championship on Sunday by claiming a narrow victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.
Lorenzo started the race from fifth on the grid, but a good start took him into the lead on the first lap ahead of pole-sitter and Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi.
Rossi scored his first pole position on home soil since 2008 on Saturday and hoped to give the partisan crowd something to cheer for in the race.
However, an engine failure on lap nine when battling for the lead with Lorenzo denied Rossi the chance to do so, resigning him to a second retirement of the season.
The mantle was duly picked up by Honda rider Marc Marquez, who went wheel-to-wheel with Lorenzo for the remainder of the race, resulting in a last-lap drag race to the checkered flag.
The grunt of Lorenzo’s Yamaha engine proved to be enough as he edged out Marquez by just 0.019 seconds, scoring his third victory of the season in the process.
Lorenzo revealed after the race that when Marquez passed him on the last lap, he nearly gave up on winning before remembering an old move he had seen before.
“The pace wasn’t very fast so I couldn’t escape like I wanted,” Lorenzo said after the race.
“Marquez stayed strong all the race and I used a lot of energy to go at the front in the race. I thought Marquez would have more energy at the end when he passed me.
“I thought to stay in second place and take the points, but finally I remembered a little bit 2005 when I was in 250 [CC] and I passed De Angelis in this corner in the last chicane for second and I thought maybe I could do the same.
“I tried a crazy move and it was OK but I was going right in the second corner of the chicane. Finally my bike was quite fast and I could get past Marc for an unexpected victory.”
Andrea Iannone capped off his home race weekend by finishing on the podium in third, beating Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso, the latter ending a three-race streak of retirements.
Maverick Vinales dropped back early on before fighting back to finish sixth for Suzuki ahead of Bradley Smith and Danilo Petrucci, while Aleix Espargaro and Michele Pirro rounded out the top 10.
The MotoGP season continues in two weeks’ time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.
