Jorge Lorenzo revealed he secured second in today's German Grand Prix despite struggling with pain in his left hand in the closing stages of the race.
The reigning World Champion couldn't prevent Dani Pedrosa from taking victory but did manage to claw back four points on title rival Casey Stoner after a superb overtaking move at the very last corner. Lorenzo described the move as a “miracle” and paid tribute to his Yamaha team for giving him the opportunity to challenge the Repsol Hondas.
“I'm very happy! It has been a fantastic race today. From the middle of the race I got very tired in my left hand so I didn't know where I could find the force to push and keep pushing to the end. Then Casey stopped the bike a lot two corners from the end so I took profit from it, opened full throttle and in the last corner I went for it. It was a miracle pass! This race is very important so we are very proud and happy with the result. I have to thank my Yamaha crew who worked very hard to give me a fast bike all weekend, they have been fantastic.”
Teammate Ben Spies also left his charge until the dying moments of the race before depriving Marco Simoncelli of fifth. The American was pleased with the consistency he showed on the YZR-M1 and will carry good momentum into his home Grand Prix at Laguna Seca next weekend.
“Unfortunately I got to the front group a little too late but I tried as hard as I could. I just lacked some rear grip in the beginning, I tried to be consistent and hope they came back to me because I couldn't run the pace they were running in the beginning. Lap time wise it was probably the most consistent I've ever done in a race. We caught up to them with three laps to go and then all hell broke loose. Simoncelli started trying to find a way past Dovizioso and every time I tried to look to go past one of them was on one side of the track and the other on the other side. It was fair play, they were racing each other but it kind of messed up my game plan! Simoncelli ran wide at the end so I got him again in the last corner. I wish we could have got Dovizioso because we had the pace, we just ran out of laps.”
Despite missing out on victory, Team Director Massimo Meregalli was delighted to close Stoner's championship lead and looks forward to another strong weekend in the United States.
“A good weekend for us, we are catching Stoner. I think Jorge did a really great job and a very impressive last lap. He saw a door almost open and he just went in and took the place cleanly, a perfect job. Ben had a big lack of grip but he was really consistent; he did almost all the race at the same pace. I don't think he could have found an additional tenth of a second. Fifth place is not so bad looking at the pace and I think he could have finished fourth with a couple more laps. We are looking to Laguna Seca now, and I am confident we can make another step forward.”
