Italian Valentino Rossi won a monumental battle with Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to triumph in the Catalan’s home MotoGP race.The riders are now tied on 106 points at the summit of the World Championship standings alongside Ducati’s Casey Stoner, who finished third in Sunday’s race.
Lorenzo, who had snatched a last-gasp pole from six-times champion Rossi, led for long stretches before the lead swapped several times on the final three laps.
There were several occasions where the two Yamahas almost touched as the fans - who were supporting FC Barcelona fan Lorenzo, but had a huge soft spot for Rossi - blared airhorns and bellowed them on.
It was edge-of-the-seat stuff, but Lorenzo left himself slightly open as they came around the final corner and Rossi tore up the inside for a memorable victory.
"It was a fantastic battle," Rossi said.
"The Yamahas were flying, we got away from the field and I quickly saw that it would be between Jorge and I," he added.
"The final lap was incredible, with two or three incredible braking manoeuvres, and I didn’t know whether I could overtake on the last corner but I went for it."
Lorenzo was amazed at his arch-rival’s audacity.
"I wasn’t expecting him to take me at that point but he was more courageous than me and deserved the win," he said after the race.
"He’s an old dog and I wasn’t intelligent enough to anticipate his move but it’s fine.
"The important thing is that the spectators were able to enjoy a race that went to the very last corner."
Behind the leaders Stoner eventually managed to open up a gap on the excellent Andrea Dovizioso, who matched his fourth-placed grid spot in the race, while Loris Capirossi took an impressive fifth after starting from 11th.
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who suffered injury in qualifying and started from eighth, was rampant in the early stages as he went past Repsol Honda team-mate Dovizioso, but was unable to make it stick and trailed Rizla Suzuki’s Capirossi by the finish.
In seventh was Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards - his British team-mate James Toseland came in 13th - with Honda’s Randy De Puniet leading home Ducati Pramac’s Mika Kallio and factory Ducati man Nicky Hayden for eighth.
Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and Alex de Angelis (Honda Gresini) finished ahead of Toseland, with Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) and Sete Gibernau (Ducati Onde 2000) behind the Sheffield rider.
Hungarian 250cc star Gabor Talmacsi trailed in last on his MotoGP debut behind Niccolo Canepa, while Yuki Takahashi and Antonio Elias retired.
Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport
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MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi has turned down the chance to race a Ferrari at next year’s Le Mans 24-hour classic.
