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After 18 months of struggle, Jorge Lorenzo finally took home his first ever MotoGP win with Ducati.
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Finally able to feel comfortable on the Ducati Desmosedici GP18, the man put the hammer down and gave his signature win.
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Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) completed the podium.
It was a race of epic proportions yesterday in Mugello, Italy. As hundreds of thousands gathered for the Gran Premio D’Italia Oakley on Sunday, the lights went off with their hometown hero, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) leading the pack from pole position.
The story, however, took quite a turn with Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) taking the holeshot into Turn 1 and stayed there throughout the entirety of the race. It has been 18 months since we saw this classic signature win from Lorenzo and with no one getting in his way, he took home his first ever MotoGP win on board the Ducati Desmosedici GP18.
Putting the hammer down, he rode a perfect race to victory whist the others scrambled for position behind him. Rossi had his plates full from the likes of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing), and Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar).
With 19 laps remaining, Marquez lost control of his Honda RC213V at Turn 2 but rejoined the race only to cross the chequered flag in P16. Towards the end, it seemed that a full Ducati podium is in the works with Dovizioso and Petrucci gaining second and third positions but Rossi prevailed as both Petrucci and Iannone fell out of podium contention due to tyre grip issues.
Iannone and his teammate, Alex Rins, gave Suzuki yet another top 5 finish which proves that their Suzuki GSX-RR MotoGP project is well on their way to fight with the top boys. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) manage to scramble to P6 ahead of Petrucci in P7 followed by Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team), and Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completing the top 10 finishers.
As for our Malaysian hero, Hafizh Syahrin, the battle for the top rookie was won by the 23-year-old as he crossed the finish line in P12 ahead of other rookies as well as Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) and Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Hafizh is now tied in points with fellow rookie, Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) with 17 points each.
The next round will be two weeks from now in Barcelona for the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya from 15 to 17 June 2018. Will Jorge Lorenzo able to keep this trend in front of his home fans? Our guts say he’s back and he’s ready to paint the whole season red!
Image source: MotoGP
