Jorge Lorenzo claims Italian MotoGP win ahead of rival Spaniard Dani Pedrosa

JORGE Lorenzo passed pole sitter Dani Pedrosa on the opening lap to win the MotoGP race for his third consecutive Italian Grand Prix victory.

Jorge Lorenzo wins Italy MotoGP

JORGE Lorenzo passed pole sitter Dani Pedrosa on the opening lap and quickly pulled away to win the MotoGP race for his third consecutive Italian Grand Prix victory.

It was the 25th career victory for the Spaniard with the Yamaha Factory team.

"I'm very happy with this race because it really wasn't easy with the high temperatures," said Lorenzo, the 2010 and 2012 world champion. "We struggled the last two races so it's nice to bounce back."

In Sunday's race Lorenzo finished 5.4 seconds ahead of Pedrosa, the Spaniard with Repsol Honda who maintained the championship lead. Cal Crutchlow, a Briton with Monster Yamaha, crossed third, 6.412 behind on a sunny day at the Mugello circuit.

Marc Marquez concluded a miserable weekend by falling with three laps to go, having moved up from sixth to second. Marquez, who also had a nasty fall in practice Friday, lost control with nobody near him and dropped from second to third in the standings.

After 5 of 18 races, Pedrosa leads the title race with 103 points. Lorenzo is next with 91 and Marquez has 77.

Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista made contact during the opening lap and crashed. Both appeared to escape serious injury but their races ended there.

Scott Redding won the Moto2 race from pole to become the first British rider to take consecutive victories in the middle class since Rodney Gould 42 years ago.

Redding finished 2.175 ahead of Nicolas Terol of Spain and 4.387 in front of Johann Zarco of France.

Redding, who also had two second-place finishes in the opening five races, leads the standings with 101 points. Terol and Mika Kallio of Finland are next with 58 each.

Luis Salom won the Moto3 race after starting fifth on the grid, moving him within four points of championship leader Maverick Vinales.

Salom finished 0.099 ahead of Alex Rins, with Vinales 0.303 behind in third on an all-Spanish podium.

Five riders failed to finish the Moto3 races. Romano Fenati flew over the front of his bike after contact with Jasper Iwema, and Jakub Kornfeil and Matteo Ferrari ended up in the gravel trap of the final corner on the last lap.

Next up is the Catalunya GP in Spain in two weeks.