Le Mans and a costly 7th place is now a distant memory for Jorge Lorenzo as the Yamaha rider put in one of his best and masterful races of the season, taking a third consecutive Italian GP victory and also regaining precious points in the standings, just 12 points adrift from title rival Dani Pedrosa.
Lorenzo gained control of the race after Pedrosa ran wide at the San Donato on the very first lap and from there kept the Repsol Honda riders at bay, until his gas tank started emptying halfway through the race and he could break later and from there he cleared out.
Despite the seemingly ease in which he won the race, Lorenzo admitted he had been worried about the high temperatures and wasn’t able to keep the same pace that he had during warm-up, and his front closed on him in the first laps.
“The conditions and the circumstances were good for us and I didn’t make a mistake, I made my best performance even if the conditions were much hotter than this morning.
We are still struggling so much when the conditions get hotter.
Anyway the key of the race was in the middle where I improved my riding, I was able to brake later with less fuel in the tank so I was able to improve the lap time by two tenths, from this moment Dani gave up a little pace and I could get away and win the race, more or less like last year.
It’s very special; I won the last three years here so this track is magic for me and very positive for Yamaha.
It also reminds us to keep working on the bike as at the tracks which are not so flowing like Mugello we will struggle.
I’m very happy to give this win to Yamaha Motor Racing President Shigeto Kitagawa because this was his last race here in Grand Prix, as he will retire.
He has done a great job for the team in the last years and it is a big loss for us.
I hope he will enjoy the different life he will have.
Our president Yanagi-san is also lucky for me, I won the 2010 Championship in Malaysia when he was there on the track and again today a victory with his presence,” said Lorenzo, who believes that friend Max Biaggi brought him luck today.
Mugello was supposed to be Valentino Rossi’s ‘redemption’ race or at least a chance to score a podium instead it turned into nightmare just three turns into the first lap when Alvaro Bautista wiped him out – it was a declared a racing incident – but just the same, it was his second DNF and another very costly one at that, as he dropped to sixth in the standings.
Or Rossi learns to qualify better or he’ll find himself in the same situation in every GP.
“Unfortunately in the start I had a problem with the clutch spinning and I lost two or three positions.
Then I was attacking because we had a good pace and I was fast.
On the second corner I was on the outside already in front of Bautista.
For me, from the inside he opened the throttle to close the line so he doesn’t lose another position but I was already in front so he came to me and took me on the boot.
I was lucky because it was a bad crash and I arrived at the wall but I’m ok.
We will try next week in Barcelona, but it is a pity because firstly it is Mugello and secondly I think we could have done a good race and maybe arrived on the podium,” commented a disappointed Rossi.