Jorge Lorenzo wins the Grand Prix of Catalan 2018

Football Full Time June 19, 2018 MotoGP Comment

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) won the Catalonia Grand Prix after starting from pole position ahead of MotoGP points leader Marc Marquez.

Marquez crossed second followed by Valentino Rossi at the Barcelona-Catalonia Circuit.

Jorge Lorenzo managed to convert his pole position into a win at the 2018 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix.

Barring the opening lap that was led by Marquez, Lorenzo dominated every lap of the Catalan GP, cruising his way to victory.
It was the Spaniard's second straight victory this season after the Italian GP two weeks ago. Those are his only two victories since joining Ducati in 2017.

The results sheets certainly don’t tell the whole story of the Catalan GP, however. The five-time World Champion made it look easy enough from the outside, but Lorenzo says he had three key obstacles – with the win not quite the lights-to-flag perfection of Mugello.

Lorenzo announced last week that he would leave Ducati at the end of the season and join Honda next year, forming a formidable pairing with Marquez.

By Lap nine, Lorenzo and Marquez started to breakaway from the grid but not without Andrea Dovizioso staying close to the Honda in third. However, Dovizioso's charge ended with a crash on Turn 5 in a yet another DNF for the season. The incident has also brought the both the Ducati riders at a tie in the championship table with 49 points each.

“It’s unbelievable and it shows how things change in this sport,” grins Lorenzo. “Two months ago, two victories with Ducati seemed impossible and now it’s done, and in this way of winning it’s amazing. I never gave up, I just kept saying I needed the right pieces and needed to put it together to be competitive with Ducati, and find my way to be fast and smooth with this bike. We showed you can win with Ducati having a smooth riding style and that’s what makes me most proud.”

The Catalan GP went down with a massive number of crashes and subsequent retirements that wiped out a good chunk of the competition. The Catalan GP marks Lorenzo's 150th podium finish, which puts in an exclusive of riders comprising Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Dani Pedrosa.

As he did in 2016 in his last race for Yamaha? Time will tell, and Round 8 appears on the horizon much before then, with MotoGP back on track at the TT Circuit Assen in two weeks at Motul TT Assen in 29 Jun - 01 Jul 2018.

The full results of the Grand Prix of Catalan 2018