Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took an impressive victory in Shanghai today, his second at the circuit having won the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix with Yamaha in 2005. It was Rossi’s 89th career victory but his first in seven races, since Estoril last year, as well as his first on Bridgestone tyres.
Rossi had looked strong from Friday morning and he was clearly in good shape for the race, but after two days of high temperatures and sunshine, heavy rain throughout the morning threatened to turn the established order on its head. The rain ceased in the late morning however and the track began to dry out with the aid of a warm wind, meaning the race was finally declared dry. Starting from second on the grid behind Colin Edwards, Rossi crossed the line first time in fourth but had made it back to second by the end of the third lap, passing Casey Stoner and pole-sitter Colin Edwards in the process.
His next target was Dani Pedrosa and he made his move on the Spaniard at the end of the back straight to take the lead. From then on the Italian led to the chequered flag but it was nail-bitingly close for the majority of the remaining 17 laps, with less than half a second between them and the pair the only two lapping consistently in the 1’59s. On lap 19 Pedrosa began to tail off and Rossi eventually took victory by 3.890 seconds, with Casey Stoner over 15 seconds back in third.
The other side of the garage had an almost equally happy day as Jorge Lorenzo shook off the pain from his fractured ankle to take a brave fourth place, something that was unimaginable after his crash on Friday morning. Rossi is the fourth different rider to win in four races this season and the championship is wide open, with Lorenzo seven points off Pedrosa in second and Rossi just two points behind him in third.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 1 Time: 44'08.061 “After seven races it is a great feeling to win again; I am very happy! This is a very important result for us because above all I was able to ride exactly how I wanted from start to finish and this was great fun for me. I had a great battle with Pedrosa and he pushed me hard and to be doing 1’59s until the end was unbelievable! All weekend we were hoping the rain wouldn’t come so when we saw it this morning we were quite disappointed, then it started to dry out so we were praying that it would dry completely; we were lucky today! We worked very well with Bridgestone and together with their technicians we made a late tyre change and it was the right choice because my tyre worked very well until the end, as my times showed!"
"It’s the first win for us with Bridgestone so this is a great moment also for this reason a nd I want to say thank you to them. We were fast from Friday morning here and step by step we’ve found the perfect set-up and today the hard work paid off for everyone. We’ve had four races and four different winners so this shows how close the championship is, now we need to keep going because our rivals are all very near. Lorenzo did a great race today with his injuries, so this is a good day for everyone in the team. Thank you to my team and everyone at Yamaha, it’s great to be here again.”
Davide Brivio - Team Manager“We needed this! It’s a fantastic feeling for everyone to win again and Valentino did a perfect job today. There are many good things about this particular win; it’s the first with Bridgestone, the first for a long time and also it’s put us right back in touch for the championship after a poor start in Qatar. It’s important that we continue like this but everyone has a great motivation and confidence is running high in our garage. Congratulations to Jorge for a great result in his condition, it’s just the fourth race but our team is in good shape!”
Masahiko Nakajima - Team Director“We’ve waited a long time to get back to winning ways! All of the Yamaha staff are very happy to win again with Valentino and I want to share this moment with Valentino’s fans around the world! It’s been a tough weekend and it was a big battle with Pedrosa, but it was an exciting and impressive race. I really want to congratulate Valentino and now we want to continue to improve the bike for the championship fight. We’ve done a great job with Bridgestone this weekend and we really appreciate their work, they helped us to win today!”
Ambient temperature: 21 degrees
Track temperature: 21 degrees
Humidity: 72%
Race Results:1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 44'8.0612. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda + 3.890
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro + 15.928
4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team + 22.4945. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro + 26.
6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda + 28.369
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha + 29.780
8. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team + 30.225
9. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 31.440
10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 35.969
11. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 36.246
12. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha + 43.191
13. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP + 43.442
14. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing + 45.855
15. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team + 46.330
16. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 50.593
17. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing + 1'05.593
Not Classified: Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki - 16 Lap
Championship Standings: 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 81
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 74
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 72
4. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 56
5. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 33
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 33
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 31
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 29
9. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 26
10. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 26
11. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 23
12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 22
13. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 15
14. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 14
15. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 11
16. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 7
17. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 4
18. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 3
Shanghai Record Lap: D.Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'59.318
Best Lap: V.Rossi (Yamaha) 2007, 1'58.424
