250cc – Donington Park – Dovizioso wins, Lorenzo crashes: the world championship reopens

“I made a mistake, there's nothing to say”. It's a serene Jorge Lorenzo, implacable despite a crash that came at the wrong time: eighth lap, Coppice curve, high-side, the Aprilia #1 kicks and the Majorcan is thrown into the escape routes. You can take such a "defeat" with equanimity, but in conjunction with Andrea Dovizioso's splendid victory, his second of the season, this is not possible. The Forlì made no mistakes, he maintained an incredible pace, he fought arm in arm until two laps from the end with Alex De Angelis who lacked nothing except the clarity in not ruining a perfect race. A slip, the "Hollywood" one of the San Marino driver, which costs little in the standings: 5 points lost, a victory transformed into an honorable placing thanks to the enormous, monstrous, abysmal advantage over his pursuers (only 6 riders at full speed, the 3rd, Hiroshi Aoyama back on the podium with KTM, 1 minute away). De Angelis takes it philosophically, Dovizioso takes this success as yet another confirmation of his competitive maturation. In a race where everyone made mistakes, he was always attentive, always there to compete, he lived as a spectator before turning into the true protagonist of Donington Park. A second victory of the season which will do little to convince Honda to help him in the championship chase: for the moment "The unbeatable Lorenzo" is on 11 points. When everything, seeing today's race, is still possible.

Race report

A few minutes before the start and the rain increases in intensity at Donington Park, thus predicting in its entirety a Sunday under the universal deluge in the land of Albion. We start with the 250cc, everyone lined up on the grid, switching on, switching off the traffic lights... off we go!! De Angelis maintains the lead ahead of Dovizioso and Lorenzo, he tries not to fall to the ground and consequently the protagonists of the quarter-liter race go there with silk gloves, with the exception of Barbera who slips at Melbourne at low speed, managing to catch up the race. The only one to objectively show a decent pace on the water is Marco Simoncelli: Simon passes, is fourth and ready to catch up with the leading trio, but ruins everything with a fall in Craner's descent. Cancellation for the Gilera standard bearer, he will start 25th ahead of Barbera who incredibly tests the escape routes of the historic English facility again.

The race doesn't offer many emotions other than a few sporadic scares: the three leaders are from another planet, Lorenzo and Dovizioso exchange second place several times with the Forlì driver taking too many risks due to a terrible crash coming out of Goddard. De Angelis takes advantage of it as much as possible: 2″ is his advantage after just 5 laps, but the two pursuers will soon travel at record paces, effectively reopening a race yet to get underway. Looking further back in the standings, Bautista is fourth, one life behind the leading trio, followed by Hiroshi Aoyama, Julian Simon and Yuki Takahashi, while Hector Barbera retires, not without making another crash (the third in 6 laps...).

Eighth lap, first real twist of the race: at McLeans Alvaro Bautista loses control of his Aprilia, flies to the ground and says goodbye to the company. It is the beginning of a sequence of impressive falls over the course of two laps or so: Laverty out at the Old Hairpin, second crash (and consequent, dutiful, retirement) for Simoncelli at the Fogarty Chicane, but be careful, Jorge Lorenzo is also out at the Coppice. High-side, rear kicking, disastrous fall, zero points collected in the United Kingdom: the championship, with De Angelis and Dovizioso in the first two positions, reopens.

Unfortunately for Roberto Locatelli, the race continues with a good tussle for third position with Hiroshi Aoyama, Simon and a recovering Takahashi as protagonists: the Spaniard from Repsol Honda is paying the price for this fight, having slipped to McLeans eight laps from the checkered flag flags. We return to the lead of the contest, De Angelis and Dovizioso adjust their record references, practically overtake all their pursuers until the final score, sorry, final "twist": two laps from the victory, De Angelis, pressured by Dovizioso, slips incredibly Hollywood-style. A "cinematic" fall, he will be able to restart and thanks to the colossal advantage over his pursuers he will finish second behind a truly exemplary Andrea Dovizioso. Second victory of the season for the rider from Forlì, De Angelis behind him and the podium completed by Hiroshi Aoyama ahead of Takahashi and his brother Shuhei. A crash on the last lap doesn't cost Kallio sixth place because Simon, who also crashed shortly before, is 1 lap behind Dovizioso. Eleven: yes, 11 points round and round, this is the gap in the standings over Jorge Lorenzo. For Andrea, but also for De Angelis, the championship has reopened.

The "hot" declarations of the protagonists

Andrea Dovizioso, 1th: “It was a very fast race and it was really difficult to stay upright. Lorenzo initially wanted to catch De Angelis but we were at the limit and he crashed. I congratulate De Angelis, he was really strong in the first part of the track, maybe he pushed a little too much and paid for it. I would have attacked him anyway, I would have tried. Now we have recovered important points in the championship, we won't give up..."

Alex De Angelis, 2th: “I'm absolutely happy to have reached the finish line, today I wasn't racing against the others. When I had Lorenzo behind me the pace wasn't very high but then Dovizioso increased the pace and I lost ground with the lapped riders. In any case I recovered points for the championship, that's fine."

Alessio Piana