MotoGP news

Yamaha ecstatic after one-two result

The Fiat Yamaha team is overjoyed to have taken first and second places in the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. After a cancelled qualifying session on Saturday, Jorge Lorenzo led home team-mate and pole-sitter Valentino Rosso on a dry track at Motegi.

Third on the starting grid, Lorenzo dropped to fourth place at the start before retaking third spot before the end of lap one. Two laps later he was able to overhaul compatriot Dani Pedrosa for second before going head-to-head with his World Champion team-mate, battling at the V-corner before finally sliding through and pulling away.

"First of all I just want to thank my team, my Mum, Dad and whole family, my friends and all the team workers," Lorenzo said after the race, "also Yamaha, as it is their home race; it was a difficult race because I didn't really get a very good start - I think I even finished the first lap in third or fourth. After that I began to catch up with the pace. I passed Valentino and opened up a little gap, about a second and a half, and he was following me very hard. I had to ride the best I could to get the victory."

With that compliment paid by his team-mate, Rossi remains second in the championship but now a single point behind his Lorenzo as Casey Stoner drops to third. "It was a great race - long, very difficult and also physical," Italian Rossi said afterwards. "I got a really good start from the front row, but there was a part of the race for which I wasn't quite able to ride like I wanted; there was some kind of problem and I wasn't fast enough to pull away. I lost time from Jorge and then was involved in a battle with Dani. Then, in the last part of the race, I was able to step up my pace and pick my lines, setting some good lap times. I tried to come back but unfortunately Lorenzo was too far away. It's a good race, second place is not a victory but it's still twenty points for the championship; I think the championship will become very interesting now, because we have four riders ready to battle for wins at the end."

With rain having delayed the first race in Qatar by one day and also forcing the cancellation of qualifying in Japan, the field will be hoping for pleasant conditions on arrival in Jerez this weekend.

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