JEREZ (Spain), April 29: World champion Casey Stoner held off a determined challenge from Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo to claim victory in the second race of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix here on Sunday.

Stoner started from the second row after Saturday’s rain-affected qualifying but the Australian Honda rider took advantage of the drier conditions for the race and soon snatched the lead from Spanish team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

Lorenzo, another Spaniard who won the season-opener in Qatar and started from pole position again on Sunday, pursued Stoner doggedly but could not find a way past and his challenge faded on the final lap.

“At the beginning of the race we didn’t get such a good start and it was really difficult to stay out of trouble and try to stay with the front,” Stoner said in an interview with Spanish television.

“When I started to push I noticed that myself and Jorge were able to take a little bit of an advantage over the others so I continued to go and continued to push,” added the 26-year-old.

“It was a very, very difficult race today but to hold on for the entire race in near-enough to dry conditions was really a great day for me.”

Stoner, who moved to within four points of Lorenzo in the championship standings, finished in a time of 45 minutes 33.897 seconds, with 2010 champion Lorenzo 0.947 behind.

Pedrosa was third, just over two seconds adrift of Lorenzo, with Britain’s Cal Crutchlow fourth on another Yamaha, just under half a second further back.

Spaniard Pol Espargaro clinched his debut Moto2 victory in front of his home crowd earlier on Sunday in a race cut short by rain, while Italian rookie Romano Fenati showed a glimpse of his potential with a maiden Moto3 win after almost half the field crashed out.

Results: MotoGP: 1. Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda 45 minutes 33.897 seconds; 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 45:34.844; 3. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 45:35.960; 4. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 45:36.362; 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha 45:51.997; 6. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 45:55.292; 7. Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 46:02.534; 8. Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 46:02.766; 9. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 46:08.749; 10. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 46:09.000; 11. Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 46:11.938; 12. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 46:46.625; 13. Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ioda 46:52.566; 14. Mattia Pasini (Italy) Aprilia 47:03.039; 15. Ivan Silva (Spain) Kawasaki 47:06.375.

Moto2: 1. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex 30:12.879; 2. Marc Marquez (Spain) Suter 30:13.120; 3. Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Suter 30:13.362; 4. Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex 30:17.293; 5. Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex 30:17.716; 6. Claudio Corti (Italy) Kalex 30:18.760; 7. Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex 30:19.028; 8. Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter 30:19.976; 9. Toni Elias (Spain) Suter 30:20.745; 10. Johann Zarco (France) Motobi 30:21.559; 11. Bradley Smith (Britain) Tech 3 30:22.261; 12. Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Suter 30:22.647; 13. Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Tech 3 30:23.312; 14. Andrea Iannone (Italy) FTR 30:44.245; 15. Gino Rea (Britain) Moriwaki 30:44.383.

Moto3: 1. Romano Fenati (Italy) Honda 43:50.885 seconds; 2. Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex 44:27.024; 3. Sandro Cortese (Germany) KTM 44:27.780; 4. Alex Rins (Spain) Honda 44:27.946; 5. Alexis Masbou (France) Honda 44:39.921; 6. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Honda 44:46.742; 7. Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Kalex 44:48.390; 8. Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) Honda 44:54.568; 9. Hector Faubel (Spain) Kalex 45:06.236; 10. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) KTM 45:26.535; 11. Alessandro Tonucci (Italy) Honda 1 lap behind; 12. Alex Marquez (Spain) Honda 1 lap; 13. Ivan Moreno (Spain) Honda 1 lap; 14. Alan Techer (France) Honda 1 lap; 15. Giulian Pedone (Switzerland) Oral 1 lap.—Reuters