Posted on 15th June 2015
Movistar Yamaha's Lorenzo led from start to finish for the fourth race in succession to close the gap on his teammate Rossi in the standings to just one point.
The Spaniard controlled the race from the front to claim the second 1-2 of the season for his Factory Yamaha team.
Repsol Honda's Marquez was battling with Lorenzo for the lead in the opening stages of the 25-lap race but he crashed out at turn 10 on the third lap. That error put another big dent in the Repsol Honda rider's bid for a third straight premier class title, with Marquez now 69-points adrift of Rossi following his third crash in seven races.
Track temperatures this afternoon reached almost 50 degrees and were the hottest recorded over the weekend, as the MotoGPâ„¢ race at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya got underway in front of a packed crowd of over 97,000 fans. Lorenzo led into the first corner as Team Suzuki Ecstar's pole-man Aleix Espargaro dropped down to 9th after he struggled to propel his GSX-RR off the line.
Lorenzo immediately set about establishing a fast rhythm, and by the time Rossi had moved into second on lap 4, the Spaniard had already opened up a 1.5 second lead.
Rossi put in a tremendous effort in the second half of the race to try and deny Lorenzo a fourth straight win for the first time in his career, but the could not get within a second in the crucial final stages.
The nine-times World Champion had to settle for second, 0.885s behind Lorenzo, who took his 37th premier class win to equal the tally set by British legend Mike Hailwood.
Marquez's teammate Dani Pedrosa rode a lonely race in third. He finished over 19-seconds behind Lorenzo but it was his first rostrum finish since he underwent major right arm pump surgery after the opening round in Qatar. Ducati Team's Andrea Iannone claimed fourth after a great fight with Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1. The British rider crossed the line in fifth as the leading Satellite rider.
Maverick Viñales on the second GSX-RR recovered from way down outside of the top 10 after a disastrous start from the front row to finish in a career best sixth position.
Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) equalled the best result of his MotoGPâ„¢ career in seventh, with Stefan Bradl (Athina Forward Racing) taking the Open class win in eighth.
Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) completed the top ten, as a number of riders crashed out on the slippery track surface.
Yonny Hernandez, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, and both of the Espargaro brothers all crashed, as only 16 riders completed the race.
Zarco victorious after epic last lap Moto2â„¢ battle
Johann Zarco mounts a spectacular comeback to take his second win of the season and extend his World Championship lead to a commanding 40-points
Zarco bounced back superbly from a close incident at the first corner involving Dominique Aegerter and Jonas Folger to deny reigning World Champion Tito Rabat a second successive victory in front of his passionate home crowd.
The Frenchman, who led Rabat in the Moto2â„¢ World Championship standings by 31-points before the race, fought his way through the pack before catching the leading group and making a block pass on Rabat at turn 5 on the last lap to snatch victory.
With glorious sunshine and track temperatures reaching 46°C it was Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Rabat that led the race into the first corner. Sam Lowes and Aegerter joined Rabat in the leading trio, and it did not take long for Paginas Amarillas HP40's Alex Rins to join fight his way into victory contention. Both Rins and Lowes took it in turn to lead, but Lowes was unable to maintain his pace and he eventually finished fourth for a third race in succession.
All the time Zarco was hunting down the lead group, eventually overtaking Lowes and catching Rabat and Rins with three laps to go. Rins ran wide at turn 4 with just two laps to go, leaving Rabat and Zarco to battle it out on the final lap. Zarco made his decisive move at turn 5, and while pushing to regain the lead, Rabat ran wide at turn 10 to see his hopes of a 12th Moto2 win disappear. Zarco crossed the line unchallenged to take his second race win of the season and extend his championship lead over Rabat to 40 points.
Rabat's late mistake let Rins through to take his third podium of the season in second.
Lowes took fourth, ahead of Rins' teammate Luis Salom in fifth and Derendinger Racing Interwetten's Thomas Luthi in sixth. Folger, (AGR Team) who was also involved in the incident at the first corner, mounted a brilliant recovery from 14th to take seventh.
Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten) and Lorenzo Baldassari (Athina Forward Racing) completed the top ten.
There were crashes for Ricard Cardus, Robin Mulhauser, and Ratthapark Wilairot on his return to the Moto2â„¢ class. Sandro Cortese and Xavier Simeon crashed out at turn 4 on the first lap, with an incident involving Morbidelli and Axel Pons (AGR Team) at the same corner.
British Kent takes fourth Moto3â„¢ victory of dominant season
Leopard Racing's Danny Kent won the Catalan GP in a thrilling finish that saw him beat rival Enea Bastianini by 0.035s.
There was a spectacular six-way battle at the front of another captivating 22-lap Moto3 race that ended with Kent mounting a last lap charge to take a sensational victory at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya.
Gresini Racing Team Moto3's 17-year-old Italian Bastianini crossed the line in second, with Kent's teammate Efren Vazquez making a daring move on the last corner to snatch third from Ongetta-Rivacold's Niccolo Antonelli.
In near perfect conditions (Track temp 40°C) it was Red Bull KTM Ajo's Miguel Oliveira that led into turn 1. But it was soon clear that no one would be able to make a break like Kent did in Texas and Argentina due to the slipstream effect on the long straight.
Within a few laps Kent, Bastianini, Oliveira, Vazquez, Antonelli and Estrella Galicia's Jorge Navarro had managed to break away from the rest of the field.
A dramatic fight for the win ensued with the lead changing hands at almost every corner. Numerous times Kent, who had a 46-point lead in the championship standings before the race, tried to break the leading group but each time he opened up an advantage, the group simply swallowed him back up on the start/finish straight.
It came down to a thrilling final lap and Kent made his move, with only Bastianini able to go with him. Kent knew he had to lead out of the last corner to take the victory, and the Brit held his nerve to take the chequered flag for his fourth win of the season. In the process Kent became the first Briton to win four or more races in a Grand Prix season since Barry Sheene in 1977 (6×500cc victories).
Bastianini (+0.035s) crossed the line just behind Kent, while Vazquez (+0.600s) managed to pass Antonelli at the last corner to secure the last step of the podium. Mugello race-winner Oliveira finished in fifth as the leading KTM rider ahead of Navarro, who celebrated a career best sixth.
Isaac Viñales on the Husqvarna Factory Laglisse won the fight for seventh at the head of the chasing pack, beating Sky Racing Team VR46's Romano Fenati (eighth) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) across the line. Schedl Racing GP's Philippe Oettl completed the top ten, just under 15 seconds behind Kent.
Frenchman Fabio Quartararo finished down in fourteenth, ahead of Maria Herrera who crossed the line in 15th to score he first World Championship point scoring finish.
There was an incident on the first lap between Gabriel Rodrigo, Jakub Kornfeil and Stefano Manzi, which saw them all fall, with the latter managing to remount. There were also crashes for Karel Hanika, Darryn Binder, John McPhee and Hiroki Ono.
Photos courtesy of motogp.com
