MOTOGP Jerez

Pedrosa wins in Jerez as Lorenzo and Marquez tangle

Dani Pedrosa reignited his championship ambitions by winning his home Grand Prix in dominant style, however, the headlines will be dominated by a last lap clash between Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez.

'The Three Amigos' started alongside each other on the front row with Lorenzo taking pole ahead of Pedrosa and Marquez,and at the start Pedrosa took the lead from Lorenzo but after turn 3 the reignong world champion was back in front.

Marquez had his hands full from a fast starting Valentino Rossi and initially found himself behind the Italian. However a lap later and the Spanish sensation was back in front and starting to close in on the leading pair.

With six laps gone Pedrosa muscled past Lorenzo down at the hairpin and from there he was never displaced as the champion's focus shifted to Marquez. Lorenzo seemed to be struggling to keep the bike on the apexes and Marquez started to close right up on the back of the Yamaha.

Behind, Britain's Cal Crutchlow was embroiled in a battle for fourth with Rossi and Bautista. He briefly relinquished fifth to the Spaniard but managed to battle back past to claim fifth as this battle continued to lose touch with the front three.

With Lorenzo and Marquez level at the top of the championship, whoever was to finish ahead of the other would take the overall lead. Marquez was looking stronger on the brakes and had a couple of looks down into the hairpin at the back end of the circuit, both times almost running into Lorenzo and losing a little bit of ground each time.

While this scrap continued, Penrose's lead stretched up to 2.4 seconds and he was looking serene and untroubled out front.

With two laps left Marquez was giving it one last go and was all over the back of Lorenzo. Onto the last lap and Marquez had a massive lunge up the inside going into the hairpin but again ran wide and looked to have handed second place to Lorenzo. However into the final corner, a corner named in Lorenzo's honour, Marquez flew his Honda up the inside and slammed into the side of Lorenzo forcing the Yamaha rider wide, both riders managed to get across the line with Marquez in second but it was plain to see the disgust of the two time champion on the in-lap.

In all the furore of the battle for second Dani Pedrosa comfortably claimed his first win of the season to move him back into contention as second place for Marquez meant he topped the table from a very unhappy Lorenzo.

After the race Lorenzo refused to make any comment on the incident. “I prefer not to comment. Our race was perfect; I want to congratulate Dani because he was the best.”

The new championship leader brushed off the incident but conceded he understood Lorenzo's displeasure. “It was an incredible race; it was difficult with Jorge and Dani. I want to say sorry to Jorge; the most important thing is that everyone finished the race. If he did it to me I would have been angry.

Race Result

1. Dani Pedrosa
2. Marc Marquez
3. Jorge Lorenzo
4. Valentino Rossi
5. Cal Crutchlow
6. Alvaro Bautista
7. Nicky Hayden
8. Andrea Dovizioso
9. Aleix Espargaro
10. Bradley Smith

Selected other Results

13. Michael Laverty