Catalan MotoGP 2018: Lorenzo hammers down his opponents

Jorge Lorenzo managed to convert his pole position into a win at the 2018 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix. The Spaniard took his second consecutive of the season after a brilliant victory in Mugello and beat Honda’s Marc Marquez with a lead of 4.79s.

Finishing a brilliant third was Valentino Rossi taking his consecutive podium of the season after starting seventh on the grid. The Catalan GP went down with a massive number of crashes and subsequent retirements that wiped out a good chunk of the competition. The Catalan GP marks Lorenzo's 150th podium finish, which puts in an exclusive of riders comprising Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Dani Pedrosa.

Barring the opening lap that was led by Marquez, Lorenzo dominated every lap of the Catalan GP, cruising his way to victory. Lorenzo had dropped behind Andrea Iannone to third in the opening lap, but managed to pass the Suzuki on Turn 10. The Ducati rider then charged towards Marquez and used the slipstream and outright acceleration to overtake the Honda and into the lead. Lorenzo was expected to break away from the rest of the field soon, but Marquez was on his tail throughout the remaining 23 lap race.

With the Catalan GP, Marquez has once again consolidated his lead in the championship, while Rossi now stands second with 88 points, to 27 points adrift from the Honda rider. Vinales now sits third with a gap of 9 points over his teammate, and is ahead of Johann Zarco who sits in fourth. Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Iannone are tied up on points with 66 each. While the win must be for Ducati this season, the 1-2 finish would've surely pleased Honda as well, in anticipation of what the team can expect next season from Marquez and Lorenzo.