LORENZO’S LAST LAP SPLASH

Jerez. Jorge Lorenzo took a dramatic last lap victory over fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, and then celebrated with a dive in the lake at the circuit.

“I saw the lake on Thursday and thought it would be funny to jump in and I think the fans liked it, but I didn’t really think about how heavy I’d be with wet leathers and for a minute I thought I’ve wasn’t going to get out,” the jubilant man from Mallorca was quoted on Motorsport.com

Pedrosa, on his Repsol Honda, started from pole position and led each and every lap of the race before running wide on the final lap, allowing Lorenzo to sneak by and steal victory in their home Grand Prix.

Lorenzo passed his FIAT Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi and relentlessly hunted down the race leader. After playing ‘let’s get physical’ with Pedrosa couple of times he seized the opportunity with only a handful of corners to go.

Last year at the Catalunya Grand Prix in Barcelona Lorenzo was at the receiving end of a last lap, last corner pass by Rossi, who today had the best view of the action in front from his third place in the race. The top three were covered by one second.

Jerez is also remembered for one of the greatest and closest finishes in Formula 1 history. The 1986 Tio Pepe Spanish Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna in a JPS Lotus-Renault and Nigel Mansell in a Williams-Honda made a dash for the finish line side by side.

Senna winning by a mere 0.014s

Nasir Hameed