Lorenzo’s win makes it one-two for Ducati
SPAIN’S Jorge Lorenzo took his first win for Ducati in a home one-two for the Italian team at Mugello yesterday while MotoGP leader Marc Marquez crashed and failed to score.
The win ended a long drought for the three-time MotoGP champion, who has struggled since joining the factory outfit at the start of last year and last won for Yamaha in Valencia at the end of 2016.
Italian teammate Andrea Dovizioso was second, with compatriot Valentino Rossi third for Yamaha, making the 39-year-old great the first rider to score more than 5 000 points in the top category.
“Finally nobody could catch me. To win here with a Ducati is like a dream,” Lorenzo said.
Rossi, who started on pole position, moved up to second place overall and is now 23 points adrift of Marquez, who has 95 points from six races. Rossi is on 72.
Lorenzo led into the first corner after lining up second on the grid, and stayed in front. Marquez took second at the start of lap three but lost control two laps later, sliding into the gravel before remounting. He finished 16th of 17 still running. Dovizioso passed Rossi on lap seven, with the Yamaha rider coming back strongly in the closing laps and finishing just 0.259 behind.
Lorenzo’s future at Ducati has been called into question, with a parting of the ways looking likely at the end of the year, but the Spaniard said he had just needed to feel more at ease on the bike.
“A lot of people said my method was not right,” Lorenzo said after wild celebrations at the finish. “Finally when the team gave me a new fuel tank that I feel more comfortable [with], I could give a more constant pace.”
Dovizioso, last year’s winner at the scenic track north of Florence and now fourth overall, said he and Rossi had both made the wrong front tyre choice. – Reuters