Jorge Lorenzo wins Catalunya Grand Prix

The defending world champion started from third on the grid but pushed his Yamaha in front of polesitter Pedrosa before the first curve and never looked back at Montmelo.

“My start was very important,” said Lorenzo. “I started even better than I had hoped and was able to get by Dani. Then it was cat and mouse for a while before I could open up a gap.”

Lorenzo’s third win in six races this season and 26th career MotoGP victory left him in second place in the standings with 116 points.

Pedrosa crossed the line second and leads the title race with 123. Marquez completed the Spanish sweep in front of the home fans. The newcomer is third with 93 points.

Track temperatures reached 51 degrees Celsius, leading to several riders crashing out when their tyres lost grip on the 4.73-kilometre (2.94-mile) Circuit de Catalunya.

Lorenzo needed a flawless performance to keep Pedrosa at bay during the middle stretch of the race. After that point, Pedrosa was more concerned with maintaining second place with Marquez putting up a tough challenge right to the end.

Seven-times world champion Valentino Rossi finished in fourth place, more than five seconds off Lorenzo’s pace. Briton Cal Crutchlow, who started from second on the grid, spun out on a curve while running fourth. Pedrosa said that the high temperatures gave all the riders trouble. “At the beginning I was pretty comfortable with Jorge but then the tyres started to degrade and all three of us went slower.

“I was a long distance from Jorge and could never get close enough to try and overtake him. It was easy to fall so I didn’t want to take any chances. ”

In Moto2, Spanish pair Pol Espargaro and Esteve Rabat separated from the pack early on and cruised to a one-two finish for their Tuenti HP team.

Thomas Luthi of Switzerland finished third ahead of Gloucester rider Scott Redding.

Redding has a comfortable standings lead with 114 points. Espargaro is next with 79 in front of Rabat with 75.  In Moto3, Luis Salom outlasted fellow Spaniards Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales to win the race from pole and move to the top of the points standings. Rins was second followed by Vinales.

Salom’s third win this season gave him 127 points. Vinales is second with 122, and Rins in third on 101.

Spanish riders took eight of nine podium spots on the day.