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Marquez error puts life in Lorenzo’s bid
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Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo won a chaotic Australian Grand Prix yesterday, throwing the race for the MotoGP world championship wide open as title leader Marc Marquez was disqualified at Phillip Island.
The defending world champion pulled to within 18 points of rookie Marquez at the top of the championship with two races to go after his countryman was sensationally black-flagged for ignoring a mandatory pit stop in the middle stages of the race.
The MotoGP was shortened to 19 laps from a scheduled 26 laps because of safety concerns over Bridgestone tires degrading on the new tarmac surface.
Riders were required to make a mandatory pit stop by the 10th lap and change to a replacement machine to avoid potentially dangerous tire wear.
Marquez instead remained on the track on his Honda for an extra lap and incurred a black flag from race officials, disqualifying him.
That enabled Lorenzo to make up a maximum 25 points and keep alive the world title race with two events of the championship remaining, at Motegi and Valencia.
Marquez went into the weekend leading Lorenzo by 43 points and was poised to become the first rookie rider to clinch the premier class championship since American Kenny Roberts 35 years ago.
He is now in a fight with Lorenzo for the world crown.
“Twenty-five points, the best result possible, and we now have opened the world championship, but it is still very tough,” Yamaha’s Lorenzo said.
Marquez, 20, admitted that he would learn from his mistake. “Today was our first experience of a flag-to-flag race, and suffice to say it wasn’t a good one.”
Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa was second, 6.936 seconds adrift of Lorenzo, with Yamaha’s seven-time premier class champion Valentino Rossi of Italy making the podium.
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