2011 Gran Premio bwin de España

2011 Gran Premio bwin de España

S1 E2: 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. The current MotoGP World Champion started from the front row and was able to pick up 25 points and claim his first victory of the 2011 season at the Gran Premio bwin de España. This result was his second successive win at the Andalusian circuit and a replica one-two with Pedrosa. The Mallorcan finished a clear 13.256s over his fellow compatriot after a chaotic race which was unpredictable until the very last lap. 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.