Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) took victory in the wet MotoGP race at the Gran Premio bwin de España after Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) crashed whilst leading. It was a Spanish one-two with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) claiming second position and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) in third.In a race which was run in wet conditions, making it very slippery, Simoncelli was on his way to his first victory in the premier class with a three second advantage over Lorenzo. The Italian suffered a nasty highside at turn one, losing a potential debut win. Pedrosa had made a tentative start to his race but managed to get back in the hunt for the win. Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) had passed the Spaniard for second in the dying laps, but made a mistake and ended up in the gravel, losing 20 points.
It was the same story for Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who due to Spies’ error, was on course to take a rostrum place behind Pedrosa. However the American also ended up visiting the gravel trap and was unable to restart. It was Hayden who finished in third to take the first podium for Ducati Team this season and his second of his career with the team.
Qatar race winner Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) was victim to a mistake from Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) which ended his race prematurely. The Ducati rider who started from 12th, was up to fourth within the early laps and then joined the leading group. After passing Lorenzo, Stoner was his next target and as he made his manoeuvre on the Australian, he made it through on the inside and then lost control of his bike. His error caused a collision with Stoner, sending them both off. The Repsol Honda rider was unable to restart his bike, whilst the Italian was able to continue, albeit further down the field. Due to incidents further ahead, Rossi picked up 11 points for fifth place.
Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was one place away from the rostrum, taking fourth position, his best result in MotoGP. The Japanese rider’s previous best finish had been seventh.
Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team) built on his performance in Losail to finish sixth, ahead of Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) who after crashing during the race, was able to remount to take seventh place and pick up points in his second MotoGP race. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was able to take eighth place after similar fate as the Czech rider, when he crashed in a solid top five place. This was the British rider’s first race at the Jerez circuit in his rookie season.
Spanish Moto2 World Champion Toni Elías (LCR Honda) brought his bike home in ninth place with the final place in the top ten going to Rizla Suzuki’s John Hopkins, replacing the injured Álvaro Bautista, after a long gap away from the series. Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) was 13th.
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Jerez - Sunday, 3 April 2011
Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time/Gap 1 25 1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 141.0 50'49.046 2 20 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 140.1 +19.339 3 16 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 139.7 +29.085 4 13 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 139.6 +29.551 5 11 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 138.2 +1'02.227 6 10 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 137.9 +1'08.440 7 9 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 137.7 +1'14.120 8 8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 137.4 +1'19.110 9 7 24 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 136.4 +1'42.906 10 6 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 136.2 +1'48.395 11 5 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 136.0 +1'51.876 12 4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 133.6 1 Lap
Not Classified 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 140.0 1 Lap 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 141.3 3 Laps 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 140.3 11 Laps 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 143.9 16 Laps 27 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 144.0 20 Laps
