Lorenzo Colors Triumphant Farewell With Yamaha During MotoGP
Sao Paulo/Jakarta. Spain's Ducati-bound triple world champion Jorge Lorenzo signed off from Yamaha with a farewell victory, in his 250th grand prix, in front of his home crowd in MotoGP's Valencia season-ender on Sunday (14/11).
The Spaniard, who had already handed over his title to compatriot Marc Marquez, held off a late charge from Honda's newly-crowned triple champion to win by 1.185 seconds at the Ricardo Tormo track in eastern Spain.
"I suffered a lot in the last ten laps because I'd had a gap of five seconds and then 4.5 [...] then when I saw Marc in second I knew he would try everything and be very quick. I was lucky I could push and ride well in the early laps," Lorenzo told Motogp.com.
Italian Andrea Iannone, who is making way for Lorenzo at Ducati and joining Suzuki in 2017, finished third to deny Yamaha's Valentino Rossi a final podium appearance of the season.
"It's a great way to say thank you to Yamaha, a perfect weekend in my 250th [grand prix] start, with pole position and then the victory," the Spaniard said.
Lorenzo's victory was Yamaha's first since June — and his own third of the year — but Marquez made him sweat before he could start celebrating his 44th win.
The younger Spaniard, second on the grid with Lorenzo on pole, fell back to sixth at the start as Iannone and Rossi surged ahead but regained second with 10 laps to go and then steadily closed the gap.
Reuters with additional reporting by Amal Ganesha
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