Despite a dominant performance from Jorge Lorenzo and a resurgent Casey Stoner at the Portuguese MotoGP on Sunday (October 4), Dani Pedrosa hung on to their coat-tails to take his third consecutive podium.
The result at Estoril keeps alive Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa’s hopes of a top-three championship finish – Lorenzo’s win reduced the gap between himself and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi, who could only manage fourth on his YZR-M1, to just 18pts, with grands prix in Australia, Malaysia and Valencia still to come.
“It will definitely be an interesting fight now for third place in the championship with Casey,” said Pedrosa. “He is the reference in Australia, and so the next race is going to be hard-fought – I’m looking forward to it.”
Pedrosa briefly led the race from fourth after another excellent getaway – and another indifferent start from poleman Lorenzo – but his fellow Spaniard had been the dominant force in all the previous sessions, and soon retook the lead, to be followed by Stoner a short while later.
“I made a very good start today and held the lead until the third corner where I ran a little wide and Jorge came by,” Pedrosa explained. “When Casey came past, I tried to stay with him and was able to put some pressure on and maintain a good pace.
“I had a moment, though, where the bike was snaking as I braked, I ran wide and I nearly crashed – that cost me some time and opened up the gap to Casey.”
Ducati rider Stoner’s comeback from a stomach complaint that kept him out of the three previous races had been warmly welcomed by his fellow competitors, but the 23-year-old Australian’s form, which sees him return to within three points of Pedrosa in fourth place in the standings, stunned everyone, not least the man himself, and came despite a broken footrest, which compromised his riding style.
“We didn’t expect to do this well, and, in fact, up until a week and a half ago, I still had similar problems to those I had two months ago,” Stoner said, also saying that to get back on the podium was “a really good feeling”.
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For his part, winner Lorenzo (pictured, left) was delighted but unsurprised at the manner of his second consecutive win from pole at the Portuguese circuit.
“I was very confident before the race because I knew I was first in every practice,” Lorenzo said. "It's fantastic, and it's almost the perfect victory."
Rossi’s crew must have been scratching their heads, as the multiple champion, who’d enjoyed good form in most of his previous visits to Estoril, finished a full 23s behind his team-mate in fourth after tyre and set-up troubles dogged him all weekend.
“It was a very difficult race for me,” said the frustrated Italian. “I was never able to be fast because I did not have enough grip in the rear, and our tyre did not work well.”
Pedrosa’s Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished seventh, with his battle for fifth position in the riders’ standings kept going by Colin Edwards’s excellent fifth place behind Rossi.
Current championship standings
Valentino Rossi (Italy), Yamaha – 250pts
Jorge Lorenzo (Spain), Yamaha – 232pts
Dani Pedrosa (Spain), Honda – 173pts
Casey Stoner (Australia), Ducati – 170pts
Andrea Dovizioso (Italy), Honda – 142pts
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