Bridgestone motorsport wrap for 14th April

Lorenzo breaks through in Portugal

Jorge Lorenzo finally turned his qualifying pace into race speed to take out his maiden MotoGP victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.

The Spaniard - who has been on pole for all three races so far this season - managed to hold off compatriot Dani Pedrosa for the win.

The two are now neck-and-neck in the race for the championship with 61 points each.

Third went to Valentino Rossi, who led in the early stages but eventually finished 12 seconds behind the winner. Rossi's third place was the sixtieth individual podium result for a Bridgestone-shod rider in MotoGP since its entry into the premier-class back in 2002.

"I had a good start to the race and the grip levels at the beginning were good," Rossi said.

"I tried to save the tyre a bit because I knew it would be difficult in the closing stages of the race, but unfortunately we could not keep the pace of the leading two riders, who were lapping easily in the 1m37s.

"We still need to work with Bridgestone, especially in the last part of the race, but this is the second consecutive podium in only our third race with the Yamaha-Bridgestone package, so there is reason to be optimistic for the rest of this long season."

Defending world champion Casey Stoner finished in fourth place after battling with a loose on-board television camera on his bike and is now 21 points off the pace in the title chase. The teams now travel to China for the next round at Shanghai in three weeks time.

Portuguese MotoGP race result:

1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 45 mins 53.089 secs
2 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 45:54.906
3 V Rossi (It) Yamaha 46:05.812
4 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 46:10.312
5 J Hopkins (US) Kawasaki 46:16.841
6 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 46:19.777
7 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 46:25.720
8 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 46:29.471
9 L Capirossi (It) Suzuki 46:31.357
10 S Nakano (Jpn) Honda 46:32.565