Casey Stoner (Nolan X-802) continued his supremacy winning the Catalunya GP finishing in front of World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (X-lite X-802).
At Montmelò Casey absolutely ruled thanks to his ability to adapt - just like the X-802 - to the changing track conditions that characterized the entire weekend. Losing Pole Position was his only disadvantage, but we must mention it was only by 16 milliseconds.
In the race Casey got a reasonably good start, but not as good as Jorge, after the race he had this to say, “I wanted to try to pass him early on, but had to wait until the end of the first lap. From this point I just tried to put in the consistent laps as we did in the practice sessions to see if he could stay with me. Fortunately I was able to open up an advantage without pushing too hard or feeling too much pressure. I was really happy, the bike was feeling fantastic and then it started to rain. There was enough rain there to make you think that it would affect the bike, and in the last corner there was enough rain to make the track slippery. As I was always the first to arrive to the wet area of the track, I watched what the others were doing [from the information displayed on his pit board] and if they had started to catch me then I would push and if I started to pull an advantage then I would back off a little. I’m just happy I kept the bike upright at this stage and I want to thank all my team at Repsol Honda for all the hard work this weekend. We now head to Silverstone next week where we’ll also be looking to fight for victory. I just hope Dani can make a return there also and I wish him a fast recovery.” It was the win of the season for Casey and lengthens the gap from Jorge Lorenzo (X-lite X-802) who now has his lead in the ranking reduced to just 7 points.
Credit to Jorge Lorenzo who still tried to fight the unbeatable Casey and managed to bring home a second place with a significant amount of points. “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.”
The MotoGP championship still sees Jorge Lorenzo leading with 98 points from Casey Stoner with 91. Next race at Silverstone, next weekend – Sunday 12th June, 2011.
