Jerez MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo unhappy with marshals

Jorge Lorenzo spoke of his disappointment at how marshals handled the aftermath of Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner’s collision during yesterday’s thrilling MotoGP race in Jerez.

The Spaniard triumphed in front of a passionate but rain-soaked home crowd of nearly 125,000 fans who were treated to an unforgettable spectacle in the 27-lap clash.

Reigning world champion Lorenzo won in the wet for the first time in his career to move to the top of the championship after two races.

But the factory Yamaha rider was frustrated at the apparent favouritism shown towards Rossi after the Ducati star wiped out Stoner on lap eight.

Marshals could clearly be seen giving Rossi more assistance to rejoin the race, while Stoner was largely overlooked as he tried to get his factory Honda RC212V running again.

Lorenzo, who finished nearly 20 seconds clear of fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, said: “There is no way that Valentino wanted to crash. It can happen to anybody, it could happen to me also. Casey didn’t do anything bad for this crash and he was riding very well and he didn’t deserve this. Somebody told me the marshals helped Valentino and not Casey and this for sure I don’t like. I would like that these things are done impartially and not like this. But in this moment the marshals are also nervous and it is difficult to react in the perfect way sometimes.”

Lorenzo was jubilant to claim a second successive win in Jerez to move nine-points clear of Pedrosa.

He said: “The conditions were very tough and I started with the intention of staying with Casey and I managed to do that. I was very concentrated on saving the tyre and I felt the performance of the tyre drop a lot and (Marco) Simoncelli and Rossi came. Then they pulled away so from there it was difficult to keep the concentration and try more. I was lucky with the crashes in front of me and it is very difficult and tough race because every lap the tyres were worse and worse and you have to try not to push or brake too hard. I win here in Jerez and I never expected this but the championship is only at the start, so we can’t get carried away.”