Estoril is a mostly fast circuit, and has been good to Lorenzo in his MotoGP career, but so far in 2011 his Yamaha YZR-M1 800 had been out-qualified by the leading pair of works Honda RC212V machines, ridden by Stoner and Pedrosa. If they stayed the course, would Jorge be relegated to ‘best of the rest’ status?

The signs were good for Lorenzo in qualifying, as he led the field and took pole position. Three works specification Hondas were next in line, but Pedrosa (third) and Stoner (fourth) were behind the rapid San Carlo Gresini team rider Marco Simoncelli. The Italian had been at the top of the timesheets, and he crashed in his final effort to retake pole from Lorenzo. There has been tension between the two men, with Jorge at times critical of Marco’s unsafe riding, so the motivation to be in front was high.

All the works men from Yamaha and Honda were on the first two rows of the grid, with Lorenzo’s team-mate Ben Spies in fifth and the third Repsol machine of Andrea Dovizioso in sixth. More Yamahas followed on, with the Monster Tech 3 team machines of Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow in seventh and eighth respectively. Cal was dealing with an arm injury, and Pedrosa was riding here with the plate from his shoulder now removed.

This left the leading Ducati rider back in ninth position, which was the best that Rossi could achieve on his factory mount. Team-mate Nicky Hayden was only in P13, with a couple of customer machines in between the two red bikes. Héctor Barberá was tenth for Mapfre Aspar Ducati and Karel Abraham was in P12 on the Cardion AB Ducati. These two were split by Hiroshi Aoyama for Gresini Honda.

Fourteenth place went to 38-year-old GP veteran Loris Capirossi (Pramac Ducati), who was just ahead of former team-mate Álvaro Bautistá, back in action on the sole Rizla Suzuki. Next was Pramac’s second rider, Randy de Puniet, having now had the screw removed from the knee he injured in 2010; and in last position was LCR Honda man Toní Elías.

Although there had been dampness earlier, conditions were dry and bright by the time of the race. The front row qualifiers opted for the medium compound Bridgestone tyres. Pedrosa made a good start to move into second behind Lorenzo, with Simoncelli salvaging third place from Stoner round the outside at the acutely right-handed Curva 1. Spies was fifth, and Rossi took sixth from Dovizioso at the right-handed bend of Curva 2, which follows a quick left kink.

Simoncelli only got as far as turn four, the left-hand hairpin known as VIP, where he suffered a highside crash. Barberá went out at the same place in a separate incident. This left Lorenzo just ahead of Pedrosa, then a bit of a gap to Stoner, Rossi, Dovizioso, Spies, Capirossi, Edwards, Hayden, Crutchlow, Aoyama, Bautistá, Abraham, de Puniet and Elías. Abraham would be next to retire, whilst Bautistá would have an off track moment that dropped him to last.

Third man Stoner was on the harder tyres, and already Lorenzo and Pedrosa were racing out of reach of the Australian. Dani set a couple of fastest laps in his pursuit of the leader, and meanwhile Casey was also distancing himself from Rossi and the rest. Early moves saw Spies and Capirossi fall behind, the Yamaha man from sixth to tenth (when he went wide onto the tarmac beyond the edge of the track at turn six), and his Italian rival from seventh to ninth. Dovizioso and Edwards tracked Rossi, and next were Hayden and Crutchlow.

Lorenzo and Pedrosa rushed onwards in front, and now Stoner set a new fastest lap. Pedrosa would respond a couple of times, and soon there was a gap of 2.8s between the two Repsol men. Meanwhile, sixth man Edwards was losing ground to Rossi and Dovizioso. A bit further back, Aoyama passed Spies for ninth as the two of them tagged on behind Crutchlow and Hayden. Aoyama soon passed Hayden, then chased after Crutchlow, who was starting to get away.

Approaching half-distance, Pedrosa was still right with Lorenzo, but there was more action involving Spies. Attacking Hayden for ninth, there was some contact. Soon Ben went off track again briefly, still on the tarmac, but not long after he crashed for good. Nicky continued in P9, but behind him Capirossi had lost out to both team-mate de Puniet and Elías, who he would then engage in combat. Third man Stoner was now four-seconds down on the two leaders.

There was yet another new fastest lap from second placed Pedrosa, and it seemed he was perhaps content to track Lorenzo at this stage. Still he had not really tried a passing manoeuvre at the end of the main Recta da Meta straight, for Curva 1. At turn six, the curving left Parabolica Interior, Jorge went a bit wide and had to cut across Dani to block him. About three laps later, Pedrosa used the slipstream effect along the straight and went to the inside to make his pass on the brakes at Curva 1. Jorge again went a bit wide at Interior on the same lap.

There were four laps to go, and now Pedrosa began to creep further ahead of Lorenzo. Two laps later there was a new fastest lap and Dani’s lead was out to one-second. Another one, and there was 1.7s between them at the start of the last lap. Pedrosa ran out the winner, Lorenzo was second, and there was a clear margin back to Stoner in a lonely third. The closest contest at the end was for fourth, between another pair of factory riders.

Rossi had held fourth place since mid-way through lap one, with Dovizioso always close behind. He was right there still on the final lap, and was looking for a way past. A lap of Estoril ends with the tight, climbing left-right hairpin-chicane at turn nine (Saca-Rolhas) and then ten (Variante), which curves round to the Esses left and final long right Parabolica Ayrton Senna. Andrea tried to get on the inside round Variante, but then was able to out-drag his countryman on the straight run to the line, moving right to get the verdict by 0.002s.

Edwards was on his own for sixth at the flag, and Aoyama had got the better of Crutchlow for seventh. Hayden was eighth, followed home by de Puniet, Elías, Capirossi and Bautistá. The four non-finishers were Spies, Abraham, Simoncelli and Barberá, which meant only thirteen runners at the chequered flag.

Dani Pedrosa had been the class of the field this time, which meant the third different winner in three races. Even if the Honda looked fastest, Jorge Lorenzo’s consistent front-running form with Yamaha kept him a few points ahead of Pedrosa overall, with Casey Stoner maintaining third and Valentino Rossi moving up to fourth. The abundantly talented so-called ‘aliens’ headed the standings, although Rossi’s Ducati seemed some way from emulating the race-winning form of the 2010 bike (three times in the hands of Stoner). What progress would he have made in development before round four? And would Marco Simoncelli be ready to convert his potential into a podium finish?

Standings after three races: Lorenzo 65; Pedrosa 61; Stoner 41; Rossi 31; Hayden and Dovizioso 30; Aoyama 28; Crutchlow 21; Edwards 18; Barberá 14; Abraham and Elías 12; Simoncelli 11, Spies 10.
Honda 70; Yamaha 65; Ducati 36; Suzuki 9.

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