Both factory Yamaha riders scored podium finishes today at the Catalunya MotoGP.
It was an unenventful race by recent standards, but Jorge Lorenzo showed consistency to hold second place for the majority of the race, and Ben Spies showed a return to form, after a poor start to the season, to claim third place.
Jorge Lorenzo – Position 2nd Time +2.403
“I’m really happy with the result, I gave it the maximum! I overtook Casey on the start but I knew he could overtake me. I tried to stay with him and not to lose his back wheel for as long as possible. At the end it started to rain a little and it was tough to keep concentration in the last sector but we managed it. We are still leading the championship so let’s see what happens in Silverstone.”
Ben Spies – Position 3rd Time +4.291
“We just kept pushing and pushing and we were slowly catching up to Jorge, not necessarily to try and catch and pass him but to stay away from Andrea. The bike was great and I felt good on it and just needed a good result. After the first couple of laps I realised we had a shot at a podium so I rode as hard as I could. The tyre was a good choice for us today; we did what we came here to accomplish and that’s good enough. Big thanks to the team who worked hard to deliver a great package this weekend, bring on Silverstone!”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“Not a very spectacular race but second and third places are of course very important to us. We closed the gap we feel this weekend even if it was difficult circumstances. We said at the beginning it’s important to finish every race on the podium. We need to solve some more issues and make some more steps but we are definitely heading in the right direction. I’m very happy for Jorge that he finished on the podium in front of his home crowd and for Ben for bouncing back from a difficult start to the year with his first podium.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“This weekend started well from Friday and everyday was better. To get both riders on the podium is a great success for the team. We were not so far from the leaders having worked hard and improved the bike a lot. We are optimistic thinking about the Silverstone race as that was also a good race last year for Yamaha.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
Lorenzo and Spies, great result.