Lorenzo takes Aragón victory as Movistar Yamaha MotoGP locks up Team World Title
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo secured his sixth win of the season and 60th Grand Prix win over all classes with a heroic ride at the challenging MotorLand Aragón circuit.
Valentino Rossi also fought bravely to secure third in the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón, giving the team, which shares the same title sponsor, its eighth double podium of the season and the Team World Championship Title.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team's Jorge Lorenzo was on another level today at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón and took a stunning victory. Valentino Rossi had the Spanish crowd at MotorLand Aragón gasping for air as he entertained them with a sensational battle for second place in which he came just 0.090s short.
Lorenzo made a flying start from second on the grid to lead the MotoGP field into turn one with rival Marc Marquez in pursuit. The Yamaha rider showed his usual stunning pace on the opening lap, creating an advantage of over half a second as they headed into the second lap. Marquez tried to stay on the heels of Lorenzo, but was unable to keep up with his blistering pace and with 22 laps to go he crashed out.
By then Lorenzo already had a more than 1.7s advantage over the chasing group fighting for second, including Andrea Iannone, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi. As they dueled, Lorenzo in no time built up a margin of over three seconds, which he managed beautifully. It was a lonely race for the Spaniard, but his incredible consistency proved unbeatable today. With no rider able to match his pace, Lorenzo crossed the finish line with a convincing 2.683 seconds advantage over the rider in second place, and clinched the by himself designed Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón trophy.
Rossi defended his lead in the championship with tooth and nail today. He held his sixth grid position off the line going into turn one, and soon moved up the order as he overtook Pol Espargarò. The Italian, promoted to fourth by Marquez's crash, was able to get hold of a provisional third place podium spot when he overtook Iannone on lap four.
His next target was Pedrosa, who he shadowed for most of the race before making his move after 18 laps. What followed was a five-lap battle for second that ran that until the finish line. Rossi skillfully passed Pedrosa various times, but was unable to make it stick and ultimately had to settle for the final podium spot, 2.773s off his teammate.
Today's race results keep Lorenzo in second in the rankings and see him inch closer to his teammate Rossi, who holds the lead in the standings with a 14-point advantage and a total of 263 points.
