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2015 Jerez MotoGP in Pictures

Action images from the Spanish Grand Prix

May 4, 2015

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Jorge Lorenzo - Photo courtesy of Yamaha

After three troubled weekend to start the 2015 season, Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo dominated at Jerez, qualifying on pole and leading every lap of the race. "Sometimes it happens that on Sunday I feel a bit worse on braking than during the rest of the weekend, but today that didn’t happen. I was able to brake really late, enter well into the corners, and carry good corner speed and acceleration, so everything was fine. When this happens you have to make profit of it and win the race."

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Marc Marquez - Photo courtesy of Honda

After breaking a finger just days before the event, Marc Marquez finished second in the race - although more than five seconds behind Jorge Lorenzo. "This is a track where we've always struggled a little because of my riding style - and this year also because of my injury, but today we achieved what we set out to do. On the opening laps I followed Jorge, but by lap five I could tell that although my finger was not a problem, I was unconsciously working more with my right arm and it began to stiffen up. From then on, I decided to just try and finish the race strong."

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Valentino Rossi - Photo courtesy of Yamaha

Valentino Rossi finished third in the race, extending his lead in the championship chase to 15 points over Andrea Dovizioso. "It was a difficult weekend. From Friday on we were struggling a lot to find the right setting and I wasn’t able to ride on the maximum level. We improved and worked until after the warm up, trying to improve the setting. In the end it’s a podium, so it’s not so bad, but also in the race I wasn’t strong enough to fight with Jorge and also with Marc. Especially entering the corners I wasn’t at 100%."

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Pol Espargaro - Photo courtesy of Tech 3

Yamaha Tech 3 rider Pol Espargaro qualified in fourth position and ran third in the early laps of the race, eventually finishing in fifth position. " I had a great start and the only mistake that I made was that I may have pushed a bit too much when I was behind Valentino as I was trying to follow him. I stayed with him for a few laps but I became tired and suffered a bit with arm pump towards the end of the race. So ultimately, I tried to stay consistent on the used tyres and keep Iannone at bay, who was closing in on me."

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Andrea Iannone - Photo courtesy of Ducati

At the start of the race, Ducati rider Andrea Iannone accidentally activated his GP15's wet map instead of launch control, and had to ride the entire race in "wet" mode. After dropping to as low as 11th on the first lap (after qualifying on the front row), Iannone managed to finish in sixth position.

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Aleix Espargaro - Photo courtesy of Suzuki

Suzuki brought some "technical improvements" to Jerez, and Aleix Espargaro used them to good effect, finishing seventh in the race. "It is positive that I got again in the top eight and I gained important points to get closer to seventh place in the championship, but we all feel we have the potential to aim for higher results. At the moment we have to work more on traction, it is not a matter of pure power anymore; it is more a matter of delivering the power that we already have more effectively. We made huge steps forward with the chattering compared to previous races and now we have to deal with the rear wheel spinning."

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Andrea Dovizioso - Photo courtesy of Ducati

Andrea Dovizioso made a mistake in the final corner on the second lap, almost turning his Desmosedici GP15 off. He ran off into the gravel and rejoined the race in last place, but worked his way back to ninth at the finish. "It’s a pity, because even though the podium was out of reach for us today judging by the pace of the first three, I feel sure we could have scored some really good points.”

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Bradley Smith - Photo courtesy of Tech 3

After crashing three times over the course of the weekend, Bradley Smith finished the race in eighth position. "The start was great and I tried to stay as close as possible to Aleix [Espargaro] as I knew he was using the softer option of tyre so there was a chance that I could overtake him at the end of the race. Eventually, I managed to close him down a bit but unfortunately not enough to pass him before the finish flag fell."

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Maverick Vinales - Photo courtesy of Suzuki

MotoGP rookie Maverick Vinales finished in 11th position after a mistake in qualifying put him 14th on the grid. "I need to improve my style and my approach to qualifying. I’m still a rookie with the softer tyres so it’s taking some time, but I feel confident that we are following the right path to improve.”

2015 Jerez MotoGP - Nicky Hayden - Photo courtesy of Team Aspar

Nicky Hayden finish 17th in the race on the Honda RCV1000R. "I'm not satisfied because Jerez is a track I like, I expected more joy here. Fortunately we have a test scheduled for tomorrow, during which we’ll try to improve our feelings. Although we have not got a good result we are evolving our electronics gradually, so I hope we can be more competitive soon."

Although Jorge Lorenzo led every lap of the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, there was plenty of drama behind him. Scroll through the gallery above to see photos from the race and for more details about how each of the top riders fared.

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