Phillip Island MotoGP
Fiat Yamaha’s newly crowned MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo finished second and teammate Valentino Rossi finished third in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island on Sunday, Oct. 17.
The podium finishes give Fiat Yamaha the MotoGP Team Championship to go with Lorenzo’s rider championship, which was clinched one week ago in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies finished fifth and teammate Colin Edwards finished seventh, with Spies’ hard-fought effort securing him the coveted MotoGP “Rookie of the Year” award.
In the 2010 MotoGP Championship, Lorenzo leads, Rossi is now fourth, Spies is sixth and Edwards is 11th in points with two races to go.
After a particularly rainy MotoGP weekend the weather finally cleared up on Sunday. Lorenzo got a good start on his Yamaha M1 into turn one, losing one place to Marco Simoncelli but quickly passing the Italian back to retake second.
However, Lorenzo was unable to match race winner Casey Stoner’s pace, despite trying his best in the early stages aboard the Yamaha.
Once Lorenzo realized he could not catch the Australian Ducati rider, he settled into an enjoyable race pace to finish second.
However Rossi had a different experience as he dropped to ninth on the first lap, then slowly made his way forward into an exciting last-lap podium battle with rival Nicky Hayden.
Jorge Loreno says: “We knew Casey would be hard to beat! I really enjoyed riding here and sliding a bit on my M1. It was fun but this was Casey’s race today. However today we won the teams’ title and this shows what a great season it has been for us all, with everyone working at the maximum.”
Valentino Rossi says: “The podium was the maximum for us but it was still a hard fight to get there. This is my 13th podium in 14 years racing at Phillip Island and I am very proud of this record. I am also happy for Yamaha and for us all for winning the teams’ title.”
2010 MotoGP Points (after 16 of 18 rounds)
1. Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha, 333
2. Dani Pedrosa – Honda, 228
3. Casey Stoner – Ducati, 205
4. Valentino Rossi – Yamaha, 197
5. Andrea Dovizioso – Honda, 179