Jorge Lorenzo recovered from a crash on the opening lap to deny Esteve Rabat victory in the virtual MotoGP British grand prix, the Mallorcan winning in his first ever virtual appearance.
Lorenzo-who started the ten lap encounter from pole position- made a strong start to lead Fabio Quartararo into Turn 1, although was quickly relegated to second as the Frenchman carried greater momentum through the bend.
Lorenzo was then taken out by an aggressive Takaaki Nakagami on entry to Maggots, dropping him to the lower reaches of the top ten immediately.
Lorenzo though-in his first official racing appearance for Yamaha since rejoining the manufacturer at the start of the year-quickly regained his composure and began to make ground, moving back into the podium places by passing Ducati test rider Michele Pirro at Chapel just prior to mid-distance.
He was given another life-line as long-time leader Nakagami crashed out under pressure from Rabat, gifting the Avintia racer the lead with Lorenzo less than two seconds behind.
Lorenzo nibbled away at Rabat’s slender gap over the remaining laps, finally closing onto the back of the Spaniards Ducati with just a few tours remaining.
He then took advantage of a small error by Rabat as he ran wide at Becketts, sliding through to re-take the lead-although Lorenzo had to win by over a second due to a track limits infringement picked up earlier in the contest.
Rabat was unable to provide an answer for Lorenzo’s speed though, ultimately taking the chequered flag 1.501 seconds down on Lorenzo after the M1’s penalty had been added.
Second was still by far his best result in the series so far though, with Quartararo following behind in third to take his own maiden podium finish despite several crashes.
The Petronas SRT pilot lost the lead to Nakagami at Becketts on the opening lap, and then wiped himself out after colliding with the rear of the LCR Honda as he tried to fight back into Vale.
Quartararo eventually passed Nakagami into Village on the final lap, denying him his own maiden rostrum result.
Pirro took the chequered flag fifth ahead of Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori, while Francesco Bagnaia and Joan Mir completed the rather depleted field compared to previous events as usual front runners Marc and Alex Marquez, Maverick Vianales and Danilo Petrucci were unable to attend this weekend.
