Moto GP Valencia - Jorge Lorenzo wins as 2010 MotoGP World Champion
Spain, Nov 7th – Fiat Yamaha Racing Jorge Lorenzo signed off a successful 2010 campaign with his ninth win of the year today, taking victory at Valencia in front of a delighted home crowd. The MotoGP World Champion, who before this weekend had never won at the circuit, eventually crossed the finish line 4.576s clear of Ducati Racing Casey Stoner, who was followed onto the podium by Yamaha Racing Valentino Rossi.
Despite the margin of victory it was far from a straightforward win for the 23 year-old Spaniard, who did magnificently to avoid crashing when he collided with Marco Simoncelli early on. Motivated even further by the moment Lorenzo determinedly pushed on and rode brilliantly to end his season in the perfect manner.
Valencia - Stoner leads while Lorenzo hunts down his prey
In second place and ending his four-year partnership with Ducati, Casey Stoner had led the race for much of the contest, but with eight of the 30 laps remaining he was unable to prevent Lorenzo taking over. After 23 wins, 21 poles, and one World Championship title together, Casey Stoner signed off as a Ducati rider at Valencia with his 42nd podium.
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd
“We had a big decision to make in terms of the tyre choice today but we went for the hard compound and maybe in hindsight it cost us. It is difficult to say because maybe the softer option wouldn’t have worked as well in the final stages so we could have ended up second either way. At the end of the day Jorge had a better pace than us today and there wasn’t much more we could have done. It is nice to bring this era to a close on the podium and I think that is fitting. I have so many great memories of these past few years with Ducati, from my first win at Qatar in 2007 and that race in Barcelona the same year, to the title success at Motegi and my wins at Phillip Island.
I also especially remember my return to action in Portugal last year. I have enjoyed every single victory on the Ducati so much and I want to thank them for so many great years together. I leave behind a lot of people that I will miss, like Filippo, Vitto and the others but even though we will be rivals on the track from now on our personal relationship will stay the same. I also want to thank all the Ducati fans for their support over these past four years.”
Four wonderful seasons for the Italian factory ended with a weekend to remember, with Stoner taking pole position yesterday and making a perfect start to the race today, leading for the majority of the race and defending first position with tooth and nail before finally conceding to Jorge Lorenzo on the 23rd lap.
Valencia Rossi bids fairwell to his much loved Yamaha
A further four seconds back Rossi, who was also ending a chapter in his illustrious career with his final race for Fiat Yamaha after seven success-laden years, placed third having engaged in a great scrap with Lorenzo in the earlier stages of the race. The Italian also secured third in the final Championship standings ahead of Stoner.
Valentino Rossi – Position: 3rdTime: +8.998
“Honestly I’m happy with this final result with Yamaha, because we had a difficult weekend here. I didn’t get a good start but I realised straight away that I was much faster today and that my bike felt good. At one point I thought I might be able to win but in the later part of the race I just didn’t have enough strength to stay with Lorenzo and Stoner, this is a very hard track when you’re not completely fit. I started to make a few mistakes because I didn’t have enough power to stop the bike so after a bit I decided it was better to slow down and keep my third place.
Arriving on the podium was my way to say thank you to my bike, to Yamaha and to all the people who have worked with me in these seven seasons. It’s been a great experience and I have enjoyed it so much. 46 is a great number of wins – of course I wanted more but I think I can be happy with what I have done here. We have finished the season strongly with five podiums in a row and after such a difficult season we can feel happy about how we have ended. It’s been a wonderful seven years, great fun with a special atmosphere, many fantastic victories and four world championships. I stopped with my bike after the race today just like I did at Welkom when this story began, it was the right way to say goodbye to ‘her’. Thank you to everyone, we have wonderful memories.”
Valencia - Injured Pedrosa struggles to stay ahead of Rossi
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) – who sealed runner-up spot in the Championship with seventh. Pedrosa was wheel to wheel with the Australian in the eighth lap, but his battered left shoulder and loss of strength affected him and little by little he started to lose pace while Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo closed in on him, until they finally passed him in the tenth lap. Pedrosa could do little to defend his position because as the laps passed his pain increased and he lost strength in his left hand
The fight for fourth was another great encounter in which Ben Spies came out on top as he rode his final race with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 before moving up the factory team. The American had been locked in a battle with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and San Carlo Honda Gresini rookie Simoncelli to the end with the Italian pair completing the top six.
Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar), Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) ended their 2010 seasons with top-ten finishes, with Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) and Carlos Checa (Pramac Racing) completing the 15 finishers.
There was disappointment for Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) who crashed out at the start having risen to second position, whilst Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) retired from the race with 17 laps remaining.
Lorenzo’s final points tally of 383 is also a new record for the most points scored in a single season in the MotoGP class. His win was also the first at Valencia for Yamaha in the 800cc era.
