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Rain made race difficult – Lorenzo

World champion Jorge Lorenzo defied a wet track to win an incident-packed Spanish Moto GP in Jerez.

Lorenzo finished 19 seconds ahead of second-placed Dani Pedrosa, who was 29 seconds clear of Nicky Hayden in third.

Pole winner Casey Stoner, who took the season-opener in Qatar, was in second when he crashed out after being clipped by Valentino Rossi, who finished fifth.

Nicolas Terol won the 125cc race, while Andrea Iannone claimed the Moto2, Britain’s Bradley Smith taking fourth.

There were spills aplenty on a showery day in southern Spain but the collision between Rossi and Stoner was the most significant, resulting in Lorenzo claiming the overall lead in the standings.

Rossi was making a determined charge in the difficult conditions, surging from 12th on the grid up to third.

But an ill-advised overtaking manoeuvre with 20 laps remaining put Stoner out of the race and left Marco Simoncelli in a commanding lead and on course for a maiden MotoGP win.

However, the Italian lost control on a bend, handing Lorenzo a lead he was not to relinquish.

With four laps to go, Ben Spies nipped ahead of Pedrosa into second only to spin off on a corner on the next lap as the hazardous track took its toll.

Lorenzo held on to take the chequered flag, the 22nd consecutive race in which he has finished in the top four.

“It was a hard race but I am happy with the win,” the 23-year-old said. “We had some luck, without the fall of Stoner we would not have won.”

Moto 2 result:

1 Andrea Iannone (It) Suter 49 minutes 56.423 seconds
2 Thomas Luthi (Swi) Suter 50:04.273
3 Simone Corsi (It) Ioda 50:09.048

Others:

4 Bradley Smith (GB) 50: 11.778
8 Kevin Coghlan (GB) 50:32.604

Overall standings:

1 Andrea Iannone (Ita) Suter 45pts
2 Thomas Luthi (Swi) Suter, Stefan Bradl (Ger) Kalex 36

Other:

6 Bradley Smith (GB) 20

125cc result:

1 Nicolas Terol (Sp) Aprilia 44 minutes 50.646 seconds
2 Jonas Folger (Ger) Derbi 45:08.092
3 Johann Zarco (Fr) Derbi 45:14.601

Others:

4 Danny Kent (GB) Derbi 45:23.529
5 Taylor Mackenzie (GB) Aprilia 45:25.359

Overall standings:

1 Nicolas Terol (Sp) Aprilia 50pts
2 Jonas Folger (Ger) Derbi 31
3 Sandro Cortese (Ger) Aprilia 30

Others:

6 Danny Kent (GB) Aprilia 16
8 Taylor Mackenzie (GB) Aprilia 11

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