Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo fought hard today to take second for the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic with teammate Valentino Rossi finishing in third for the second consecutive Yamaha double podium finish.

Lorenzo started in his traditional style, pushing hard at the start of the race. The Spaniard had a good start from sixth on the grid and soon passed Bradley Smith and Marc Marquez before plunging down the hill, with teammate Rossi following close behind. What followed next was a flurry of overtaking maneuvers between the top six riders, Lorenzo managing to overtake Dani Pedrosa to start the second lap in third place.

Lorenzo kept riding aggressively, overtaking the two Ducati’s of Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso in corner three on the second lap to lead the race and simultaneously brake the circuit record with a 1’56.066 lap. Pedrosa managed to close the gap and, though Lorenzo put up a fight, he was unable to hold off his rival. Lorenzo kept his head down and the pressure on. The last lap saw him inch closer but he came short by just 0.410 of a second at the line.

Teammate Rossi repeated his achievement from Indianapolis last weekend. The nine-time World Champion started his 245th Grand Prix with a bang as he launched his Yamaha from seventh on the grid along the outside of the race track to close right up with the riders starting from the second row of the grid. The Italian soon overtook Bradley Smith and had his eyes on Marc Marquez. He overtook his rival in turn four when the young Spaniard was forced to sit up. Marquez regained a place from Rossi, but was unable to pull away, the two staying close as they passed Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone.

The Doctor closed back in on lap 12 and made a pass stick on 13. It was now Rossi’s turn to take off, creating a distance between himself and the young Spaniard too big for the championship leader to bridge, giving Rossi his seventh podium finish of the season in third.

Lorenzo’s second place keeps him in fourth position in the world standings with 137 points, 36 points behind teammate Rossi with 173 points who stays third with a 13 points gap to his closest rival.

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP now head to Silverstone in the UK for the The British Grand Prix in two weeks time.

Jorge Lorenzo - 2nd / +0.410 / 22 laps

“Finally we beat Marc, but unfortunately it was not me who got the victory this time. I had a chance to get the win because I was feeling good during the warm up and also on the first laps of the race. The only problem was that the feeling of the bike changed after a few laps and Dani caught me. I need to be more aggressive, because he managed to get away. The bike was not so bad at the end of race but I was on the limit to catch him. If there would have been one more lap I would have been able to try and beat him, but it was too late. I wanted to try and fight for the win, but Dani rode a really good race. It was a good opportunity for us to win because Marc was not fit enough, but we didn’t plan the race perfectly so we have to learn from this experience in the future. I’m very happy with Yamaha’s work and how they have improved the bike these last few races. I think it will also be a big improvement for other tracks. I also feel very strong physically so if it goes well we can fight for the victory.”

Valentino Rossi - 3rd / +5.259 / 22 laps

“I’m very happy about this result, because it was a difficult weekend. Yesterday I crashed and injured my finger. This morning it was very bad when checking the setting also with pain making it difficult to ride. This afternoon I visited the Clinica Mobile for my finger to prepare it for the race. With Silvano (Galbusera) and the whole team we were able to set up the bike and we were able to have a good race. I’m happy. We had a good pace and got another podium. Unfortunately I lost a bit of time on the first laps because I wasn’t sure, but after I found the rhythm and then it was a great pleasure to beat Marc. He was sliding and had a problem so he wasn’t fast enough. Of course we tried to arrive more in front but the third place was not so bad in Brno because Dani and Jorge rode a very strong race.”

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

"We are very happy to see our performance continue straight on from Indianapolis and again score a double podium for Movistar Yamaha. The result is very much deserved after a weekend of hard work by both Jorge and Vale and the team. It's refreshing to see a different race winner today, a shame it wasn't us but I believe with our current performance our time is coming again. We will now stay here to work tomorrow. We will have two major items to test. We have the 2015 prototype machine that we will see for the first time. In the morning Jorge will test it and then Vale will ride it in the afternoon. On the current 2014 bikes, we'll also test the 2015 prototype engine as we have one for each rider. I look forward to leaving Brno tomorrow evening with very clear ideas about the direction of the 2015 development.”

2014 MotoGP Czech Republic - Brno 17/08/2014

1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 42'47.800
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 0'00.410
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'05.259
4 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 0'10.454
5 Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 0'17.639
6 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 0'17.834
7 Stefan Bradl Honda GER 0'23.819
8 Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha ESP 0'29.621
9 Bradley Smith Yamaha GBR 0'30.364
10 Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 0'37.639
11 Scott Redding Honda GBR 0'55.604
12 Michele Pirro Ducati ITA 0'56.727
13 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 0'56.908
14 Karel Abraham Honda CZE 1'04.135
15 Leon Camier Honda GBR 1'04.902
16 Alex De Angelis Yamaha SMR 1'20.666

MotoGP World Standing - Rider Standings After Race 11 of 19

1. Marc Marquez Honda ESP 263
2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 186
3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 173
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 137
5. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 118
6. Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha ESP 85
7. Pol Espargaro Yamaha ESP 78
8. Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 73
9. Stefan Bradl Honda GER 65
10. Bradley Smith Yamaha GBR 65
11. Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 56
12. Scott Redding Honda GBR 45
13. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 37
14. Cal Crutchlow Ducati GBR 36
15. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 29
16. Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 27


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