Jorge Lorenzo won a tight 250cc race from Alex de Angelis (both Aprilia) with series points leader Andrea Dovizioso (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) a fighting third. Dovi’s team-mate Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) was fourth. Takahashi got the holeshot into turn one and led through the first few turns before Lorenzo took the lead closely followed by Dovi. Within four laps a seven-rider lead group had established itself at the front.
At the mid-way point Alex de Angelis (Aprilia) looked strong as he took up the front-running duties from Lorenzo. With the eight-placed rider nearly 15 seconds behind the lead group, the finish looked as if it might be a messy affair as the final laps loomed.
But with two laps to go of this 21-lap race, de Angelis, Dovi, Lorenzo and Takahashi left Alex Debon and Marco Simoncelli (both Aprilia) in their wake as they fought for position for the crucial drive out of the final turn on the final lap.
Lorenzo led the final lap until de Angelis swept past him, but then the San Marinese man ran wide on the last bend allowing Lorenzo back into the lead, Dovi too dived inside but the two Aprilias had the speed to cross the line first and second.
Dovi said, “I really couldn’t do better than this today! I was recovering in the braking points and in the curves what I lost on the straights. It was difficult to beat Aprilia here with a finish-line that is very far from the last curve. I did my best trying to pass De Angelis at the ‘Bucine’, but I didn’t get it. I’m happy about this podium as it strengths my lead in the World Championship, but I want to win.”
“I made a very good start as always this season,” said Takahashi. “At the beginning, Lorenzo overtook me and I followed him, but then the other riders caught us and so I tried to stay with the top group until the last lap. Here the Aprilias were very fast and, also, Dovizioso had a good pace. Anyway, fourth place is a good result at this fast track.”
Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) finished ninth and said, “I didn’t make a bad start, I think I recovered one position at the end of the straight, but I made a mistake so I was tenth after the first lap, more than two seconds behind the leading group. It’s a shame because I was hoping to have another race like Le Mans.”
Fabrizio Perren (Stop And Go Racing Honda RS250RW), who finished 15th in his first race on a 250, said, “My objective was to ride out the race and gain experience on the bike. My start was not too special and another rider ran into the back of me at turn one. After that I raced alone. The group ahead of me, Tizon and Porto I think, were just a few seconds ahead of me. I could run the same times as them but I could not catch them. I have to thank the team for all the work they did for me this weekend.”
Andrea Dovizioso, Humangest Honda: 3rd:“I really couldn’t do better than this today! I was recovering in the braking points and in the curves what I lost in the straights. It was difficult to beat Aprilia here with the finish-line that is very far from the last curve. I did my best trying to pass De Angelis at the ‘Bucine’, but I didn’t get it. I’m happy about this podium as it strengths my gap in the championship, but I want to win. It’s the first time here at Mugello and for sure is a great emotion, but it’s a shame I can’t fight for the victory. I want to thank my team as the bike was okay and my fan club that supported me during the all weekend.”
Yuki Takahashi, Humangest Honda: 4th:“I made a very good start as always this season. At the beginning, Lorenzo overtook me and I followed him, but then the other riders caught us and so I tried to stay with the top group until the last lap. Here Aprilias were very fast and, also, Dovizioso had a good pace. Anyway, the fourth place is a good result in this fast track.”
Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 9th:“I didn’t make a bad start, I think that I recovered one position at the end of the straight, but I made a mistake so I was tenth after the first lap, more than two seconds behind the leading group. That’s where my fight for the leading positions ended; there was nothing I could do to get closer to the lead. It’s a shame because I was hoping to make again a race like in Le Mans.”
Sebastian Porto, Repsol Honda: 13th:“Complicated. The truth is that it is a difficult situation. Considering the weekend, being in the scoring area isn’t bad, but as always, it’s not what I’m looking for. We’ve really been far back this weekend. We knew that it would be more complicated here because it’s a difficult circuit, very technical and if you have problems it gets worse. But the truth is that I’m very angry, because there are more problems than normal, and the situation is a bit difficult. So now I have to calm down and wait if there are new things to test, because if we go on like this it will be very difficult, we haven’t found the way and I think it’s going to be difficult to improve in the future like this, so now we have to see where we can improve.”
Arturo Tizon, Wurth Honda BQR: 14th:“I got a good start but at the end of the straight on the first lap Hiro Aoyama hit me and pushed me wide. I managed to catch Porto and the two of us rode out the race together, we couldn’t catch the group ahead of us. The bike was very good today, it handled well and I had good speed.”
Fabrizio Perren, Stop and Go Racing: 15th:“I am very, very happy with my race, it was my first ever in 250. My objective was to ride out the race and gain experience on the bike. My start was not too special and another rider ran into the back of me at turn one. After that I raced alone. The group ahead of me, Tizon and Porto I think, were just a few seconds ahead of me. I could run the same times as them but I could not catch them. I have to thank the team for all the work they did for me this weekend.”
Martin Cardenas, Wurth Honda BQR: dnf – crash:“I’m very disappointed I was running a good race, on 11th place but with three laps to go I lost the front end and crashed out. It’s a pity because everything was running so good. I did make a small mistake early in the race that lost me the slipstream of the group in front but I recovered fro that to work my way back into the race.”
Arnaud Vincent, Molenaar Honda: dnf – crash:“This has been a bad weekend for us all round. Practice was bad but the team gave me a good bike for the race. I was about 12th at the fist corner but when I got to the first right-hander after the fast corner I gave it too my gas and was high sided off the bike.”
MotoGP 250cc Italy Grand Prix at Mugello Round:1 Jorge LORENZO / Fortuna Aprilia
2 Alex DE ANGELIS / Master - MVA Aspar Team
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO / Humangest Racing Team
4 Yuki TAKAHASHI / Humangest Racing Team
5 Alex DEBON / Aprilia Racing
6 Roberto LOCATELLI / Team Toth
7 Marco SIMONCELLI / Squadra Corse Metis Gilera
8 Anthony WEST / Kiefer - Bos - Racing
9 Shuhei AOYAMA / Repsol Honda
10 Andrea BALLERINI / Campetella Racing
11 Sylvain GUINTOLI / Equipe GP De France - Scrab
12 Manuel POGGIALI / Red Bull KTM GP 250
13 Sebastian PORTO / Repsol Honda
14 Arturo TIZON / Wurth Honda BQR
15 Fabrizio PERREN / Stop And Go Racing Team
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