Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo marked his return to fitness with third in the Indianapolis Grand Prix, his fifth premier class podium finish at the US track. He impressed with a stunning start from second on the grid, out dragging both Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa to take the hole-shot into turn one. Lorenzo immediately built a half second gap and managed to hold the lead on a track not best suited to the Yamaha until Marquez squeezed past with 15 laps to go. Marquez was not allowed to break away and Lorenzo kept with him until fatigue set in as the race wound down and he was forced to relinquish second to Pedrosa with three laps remaining.
This important podium whilst still recovering from surgery allows Lorenzo to now return to European tracks favoured by the YZR-M1 in full fitness and just 15 points behind Pedrosa in third on 153 points.
Teammate Valentino Rossis race proved to be the opposite of Lorenzos. The Italian nine-time world champion spent the early part of the race fighting with a less than perfect set up as he made up ground from his ninth position start on the grid. Nicky Hayden was dispatched on the second lap for eighth and fellow Yamaha rider Bradley Smith would follow. With just six laps remaining it was clear Rossi had saved the best for last, hunting down Alvaro Bautista and Cal Crutchlow who were fighting for fourth. Rossi joined the battle, swapping positions repeatedly until a stunning pass on the second to last corner of the last lap saw him steal fourth from Crutchlow and hold it to the line.
The result keeps Rossi in fourth in the overall standings with 130 points, three clear of Crutchlow in fourth. Rossi and the team will now head directly to Brno for the second of three consecutive back-to-back races.
Jorge Lorenzo3rd | +5.704 | 27 LapsI made a very good start and I had half a second advantage in the beginning of the race. I had a lot of hope because I knew I had a good pace but suddenly in the middle of the race Marc started to go faster and faster so it was impossible to win. Im disappointed to not finish second, because in normal conditions without the drop in rear tyre this would have been possible. Im happy to be back on the podium at a track thats not normally a good one for us. I dont feel perfect, I feel more tired than normal because I havent trained so much in the last two months because of the injuries. I felt tired at the end of the race and had some pain in the braking areas but I feel much better and in Brno and Silverstone I will be ok. I think from this moment we can only be better and better.
Valentino Rossi4th | +19.895 | 27 LapsAt the end the race was not so bad, especially compared with yesterday and especially the second half. I could ride the bike in a good way and I could enjoy it. I did a very good lap time in the second half and had great battles with Bradl and Bautista, but especially with Cal on the last lap, that was very funny. Fourth place here is good considering this track is one of the worst for me and considering I started from ninth I am quite happy. We still have to work and understand why in the first laps I cant ride the bike and use the extra grip of the tyre. In the second part when the tyre slides I can enter the corner faster, I can go faster and I can make good lap times so we have to improve because the first three riders are very strong.
Wilco ZeelenbergThe Indianapolis race is finished and we have to be pleased with third. We hoped for second place because I think that was our pace but finally the tyre dropped a lot on the end so we have to investigate what happened exactly. Anyway, to be back after injuries and be fighting again with Marc and Dani for victory is great, the first 20 laps especially looked very good. Jorge was riding well and the bike behaved quite good. I think the guys all did a good job so we just have to investigate the tyre drop. We had the same last year when we lost ten seconds on Dani and this year five or six seconds in total on the race winner. We are improving at Indy, maybe next year we can win here.
Massimo MeregalliEven if we knew since the beginning that Indianapolis was going to be a tough race for us I have to congratulate the team as they have done a fantastic job. We led for part of the race, Jorge had a really good rhythm and he was able to get an important podium for the Championship, that was the target and the main goal. Also Valentino, even if he couldn't find the right set up, got the right balance of the bike and when the tyre dropped he made an impressive come back. Third and fourth is a good result here and now we go back to some circuits in Europe where we can change the direction of the Championship in our favour.
