Sunday, 3 July 2011
MotoGP
A fantastic race saw Jorge Lorenzo stalk down Casey Stoner to clinch his second win of the season at the Gran Premio d'Italia TIM, while Andrea Dovizioso passed his Repsol Honda team mate on the last lap to finish second.
Stoner started from pole position to break from the field early and looked set to have victory in the bag, until with 9 laps remaining, Lorenzo began to chip away at the Australian's more than 2 second lead, finally catching and taking over the lead with six laps to go. The Spaniard's win closes the World Championship standing lead of Casey Stoner to 19 points.
Dovizioso hunted down and passed Stoner on the very last lap to grab second position in front of his home crowd. The Italian remains third in the Championship with 119 points, ahead of Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) with 91.
Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) battled with San Carlo Honda Gresini Team's Marco Simoncelli for fourth position, both of whom started on the front row. The two made multiple late braking passes on one another until the American got the better of the Italian on the last lap.
A five man battle for sixth between Rossi, Hector Barbera (Mapfre Aspar), Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) ensued throughout the race, with Barbera dueling with Rossi at the front of the pack. Rossi broke away at 11 laps to go, putting his GP11.1 in the sixth spot, ahead of the Ducati of Barbera in seventh.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who dominated the Italian Grand Prix last year, was eighth across the line after starting from the same grid position on his return to racing having missed the last three GPs through injury. The Spaniard finished just in front of Edwards and Ducati Team's Nicky Hayden, who had an early run off to finish in tenth. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) retired to the pits with front tire issues, the second race in a row he has suffered with the similar problems.
Moto2
A thrilling three way battle for first position ensued between pole position starter Marc Marquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol), Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) and Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing), with the young Catalan rider emerging victorious, making him the youngest ever rider to take back to back victories in the intermediate class in the World Championship. He has now won three of the last five races.
Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) made a mistake early to drop back to fifth, but quickly made his way back to the race elbow to elbow, assuming the lead several times and finally finishing second in a breathless last lap which saw all three lead at various points on the track. Smith moved down to third from the lead after a close pass by Marquez literally pushed him wide, the third place his third successive podium of the 2011 season.
Fourth place finisher Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) started from second on the grid and ran as high as second in the race, touching elbows with Bradl on at least one occasion, while last year's race winner Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) suffered enough tire wear in the last few laps to take him out of the battle for fourth with De Angelis to finish fifth.
Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) headed up the battle for sixth, in front of Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project), Max Neukirchner (MZ Racing), Aleix Espargaro (Pons HP 40) and Technomag-CIP duo Kenan Sofuoglu and Dominique Aegerter in tenth and eleventh.
Pol Espargaro (HP Tuenti Speed Up) crashed out of 7th place but kept his FTR Moto2 machine running and re-entered the field to finish 28th.
125cc
Nicolas Terol (Bankia Aspar) had a stunning return to competition after missing the last race in Assen due to injury, shooting off the second row to lead the start of the Gran Premio d'Italia TIM 125cc race with first time pole man Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) moving quickly into second, chasing his first GP victory.
The two broke away from the rest of the field, pursued by the pack of Spanish riders Maverick Vinales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team), Efren Vazquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo), Hector Faubel (Bankia Aspar), Luis Salom (RW Racing GP), and Sergio Gadea (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team), and two German riders Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) and Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport).
With ten laps to go, pressure from Zarco caused Terol to run wide, and the Frenchman took over the lead. The Spanish rider sat back until the final corner, driving out of it to pass Zarco on the home straight despite the Avant-AirAsia-Ajo rider swerving to break the draft. The win is the fifth for Terol of 2011, adding Mugello to the list of his previous wins at Losail, Jerez, Estoril and Catalunya.
16 year old Vinales dueled with Vazquez for the third spot on the podium, finally beating him across the line to take his fourth consecutive podium of the season, and moving into third place overall in the Championship.
Folger crashed out of the pack of seven riders tussling for third on lap 17, handing his second place in the Championship over to Zarco.
