It had to be only a matter of time before Jorge Lorenzo won his first MotoGP race and the bets were that it’d be sooner rather than later. After an impressive start to the season that saw him put the factory Yamaha on pole in the first two races, he did it again for the race at Estoril in Portugal. This time though he went better and converted the qualifying first grid slot in to a win with a pretty much faultless display.

Qualifying had seen all the usual suspects in their usual positions. Lorenzo snatched pole, Pedrosa – his not-so-best-buddy countryman was second with Rossi third. Filling out the rest of the places was Hayden, Edwards, Toseland for the top six. Just behind them was the well performing Dovisioso, a strangely out of position De Puniet and then Stoner. The low position of Stoner wasn’t to be unexpected. He and the Ducati had a difficult race at Estoril last year and this was going to be an exercise in damage limitation- ride a solid race and bag points – that’d be as good as a win for them.

The cat was thrown amongst the proverbial pigeons though when, as the bikes did their warm up lap, rain was seen and drops appeared on the cameras. Numerous mentions of rain on visor could be heard from the commentators as the prospects of a rain affected race loomed. It clearly scuttled Capirossi as he managed to miss his grid slot and take Stoner’s position at the grid. That was soon rectified by some back peddling and the with the lights out, the race was on.

Pedrosa stormed off into the lead at the first corner as everyone got off although notably Toseland had a bad start and went backwards, suddenly finding himself down around 11th. Pedrosa’s surge to the lead though was curtailed as he became ensconced in a fight with Lorenzo and Rossi who both overtook him, then on the 2nd lap Rossi went by his young upstart of a team mate to take the lead.

Rossi tried to push and either break away from the following pack or try to drag them with him and force them to use up their rubber or fall off but neither plan worked and with a not insurmountable gap the Bridgestone shod Yamaha circulated at the head.

Further back action was happening a plenty. Toseland, learning the track and what his bike can behave like in trying conditions, was his usual combative self and was embroiled in a pitched battle to recover from his poor start. Fighting with Stoner and Capirossi he moved forward to then mix it with Dovisioso whilst Stoner seemed to be inexplicably neither here nor there until it was seen that some loose electronics were dangling from the front fairing.

Hopkins had a blinder of a start and was chasing behind Edwards by mid race and putting in an impressive showing, finally, on the Kawasaki. Dovisioso had squeezed passed Toseland and moved forwards too. It must be a shame for the young guy as he’s really riding rather well yet most of the attention is on the other newcomers. That being said he pushed too hard by mid race and the front folded and down he went. Admirably he owned up saying he pushed too hard. A couple of laps later Hayden did the same.

Whilst all this was happening Lorenzo had quite brilliantly dispatched Rossi through the chicane and started to push hard and showing no respect for his team mate, the seven times world champion. Pedrosa didn’t want his country man to get too big a lead and he too piled on the pressure and was soon passed Rossi aswell and set about chasing down Lorenzo.

It was soon evident by the way Lorenzo was able to control that gap though that this was his day. Pedrosa did an excellent job of keeping him honest but clearly the lollipop sucking Spaniard was telling everyone that he’s arrived in MotoGP in a big way with such a masterful ride. He wasn’t troubled again and took the flag. Pedrosa was not far behind to take second.

Rossi was unable to stay on the back of Pedrosa and had to settle for third place. Behind him was a creditable Edwards and Hopkins. Finally Kawasaki have seen some reward - will this make them bring the screamer engine anytime soon to a race? Next was Stoner, who had overcome his wayward box of tricks to pass Toseland.

It was an excellent race and a well deserved win for Lorenzo who is showing everyone just how good he is. He’s made it absolutely clear that he’s there to win and not play second fiddle to Rossi. He’s now joint leader in the championship standings with Pedrosa who’s also riding masterfully. Rossi has his work cut out for him (again) and you have to wonder will he stay on it? So far he’s been out-ridden fairly comprehensively and with him on Bridgestone rubber, that seem to have been matched somewhat by Michelin, he’s managed to differentiate himself in the wrong direction. Although Ducati admitted and expected a difficult race they didn’t expect it to be this difficult and China can’t come soon enough for them. Stoner still managed to gather points and that could count at the end of the season – but it’s going to be long and hard for them as clearly the Yamaha/Lorenzo and Honda/Pedrosa packages are to beat. Worryingly Stoner is now struggling to set up the Ducati just as Milandri seems to be. They’d best be hoping it’s just a speed bump and not something more systemic.

The future of MotoGP has arrived and arrived with style.

1. Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 45′53.089
2. Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 45′54.906 1.817
3. Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 46′05.812 12.723
4. Colin EDWARDS USA Tech3 Yamaha YAMAHA 46′10.312 17.223
5. John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 46′16.841 23.752
6. Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 46′19.777 26.688
7. James TOSELAND GBR Tech3 Yamaha YAMAHA 46′25.720 32.631
8. Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 46′29.471 36.382
9. Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 46′31.357 38.268
10. Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 46′32.565 39.47
11. Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 46′54.395 1′01.306
12. Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team DUCATI 46′56.956 1′03.867
13. Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 47′02.614 1′09.525
14. Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team DUCATI 47′02.723 1′09.634
15. Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 47′04.631 1′11.542
16. Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 47′16.718 1′23.629

* picture source: MCN.

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