Lorenzo surprised at winning margin
Added on Monday, October 5th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Lorenzo surprised at winning margin
Jorge Lorenzo was delighted with his weekend’s work as he dominated the Portuguese Grand Prix weekend to close the gap in the championship to just eighteen points.
From as early as Friday practice, it was evident that Lorenzo was streets ahead of the field at Estoril and the Mallorcan put in a dominant performance from pole to romp to a 6.294 second victory. His second win at Estoril in as many years.
The win, coupled with Yamaha teammate and title rival Valentino Rossi’s fourth place finish, puts Lorenzo within touching distance of Rossi in the championship with three rounds to go and the 23-year-old has vowed to keep pushing to ensure that the title race goes down to the wire in the final round at Valencia.
“I didn’t expect to win with such a gap,” claimed Lorenzo. “It was a perfect weekend as we dominated in practice, feeling great on the bike and also in the race I think it was one of the best performances in my life. At the beginning it was a little bit difficult to open a big gap because I could only do it one tenth of a second at a time, but then Casey’s rhythm dropped and I was able to maintain my pace.
“It will still be very difficult but now we can say that it is not impossible. I think I can take a few risks because I don’t have anything to lose. Valentino has to win the championship and we just have to keep trying.”
