Round 16 of the 2013 Moto GP season was one to remember. Going into Phillip Island HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo was behind 43 points from rookie point’s leader Marc Marquez. Lorenzo knew winning the race, was the only way to keep his hope alive in retaining the title.
Knowing how important this race is, HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo set the pace at FP1 & FP2. After day one Lorenzo was on top of the board with a time of 1’28.961. In day two, HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo dropped from top of the board to 2nd place, just behind Honda rider Dani Pedrosa by .053 seconds. Known the importance of this race HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo didn’t waste time in Q2. Lorenzo was the first rider to go out during Q2. Despite the bird/bike incident during Q2 HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo was still able to set a lap time of 1’28.681. However it didn’t last long, since rookie Marc Marquez took the lead with a time of 1’28.120. Just before the end of Q2 HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo put together a blistering time of 1’27.899 to claim his 4th pole position of the year.
On race day, with weather and tire concerns, race officials decided to drop the race from 26 laps to 19 and require the riders to pit & change bikes. Once the race started, HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo had another stunting start and kept the lead from Honda rivals, Marquez & Pedrosa. After 9 laps, Pedrosa was the first to pit from the 3 leaders. The following lap HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo pitted, however rival Marquez stayed on the track for another lap before changing bikes. With 5 laps to go, Marc Marquez was blacked flagged & disqualified for ignoring the required pit stop. In the end, HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo was able to maintain the lead and win his 6th race of the year & 50th of his career. But more importantly, cut Marc Marquez lead to 18 points with 2 races left.
After the race HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo stated, “We’ve been very lucky. Without the mistake from Marc I think he would have been first or second. Now the championship has changed so much. Before the race we had no chance, a 2% or 3% chance and now it’s 20% or 30%. But Marc is very competitive at every track, so we need to go as hard as possible at Motegi and Valencia.”
The next race will be held on October 27th at Motegi Circuit, were HJC rider Jorge Lorenzo finished 2nd behind Honda rider Dani Pedrosa.
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