Jorge Lorenzo has closed Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP championship lead to fourteen points after a vital victory in the Aragon Grand Prix. The Spaniard had little competition from the moment Marc Marquez crashed out on lap two but he received a favour from another Honda rider as Dani Pedrosa pipped Rossi to second in a thrilling fight to the finish.
In slightly cooler conditions, Lorenzo made a scorching start to beat Marquez into turn one but he wasn’t the only one, with Andrea Iannone also outdragging the polesitter to snatch second. Marc was quick to respond, fighting back past the Ducati in a matter of corners, but his eagerness to chase down Lorenzo caught up with him on the second lap when the front end of his RC213V gave way at turn twelve.
After a steady start, Rossi had recovered to third behind the Honda of Pedrosa, both having dispensed with Iannone, but the Spaniard didn’t put a wheel wrong in his defence of second place. With the Honda leaving the Yamaha trailing on the back straight, Valentino had to be creative in his overtaking moves but Dani had his first attempt at turn four well scouted, snapping straight back.
The scrap would ultimately come down to the final 5km and Rossi tried again into turn four, this time appearing to make the move stick after blocking Pedrosa into turn five. The Doctor couldn’t put sufficient distance between himself and the no.26 before turn seven though, leaving the door open for Dani to barge his way through once again and despite an optimistic lunge at turn fourteen, Pedrosa did enough to match his best result of 2015.
Iannone kept the podium contenders in sight to finish fourth ahead of teammate Andrea Dovizioso who salvaged fifth from thirteenth on the grid. Aleix Espargaro returned to form on the Suzuki to take sixth ahead of leading satellite rider Cal Crutchlow while Tech 3 duo Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro paid the price for error-strewn races, ending up eighth and ninth respectively.
2015 GRAN PREMIO MOVISTAR DE ARAGON: RACE RESULT (23 LAPS)
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