Honda’s Dani Pedrosa won the race but Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo maintained his championship lead after the latest round of the MotoGP world championships in Portugal at the weekend.

The two Spanish riders dominated the day at this third round of 18 in the championship.

Lorenzo extended his unbroken run of podium finishes at the weekend, having taken his fourth consecutive Estoril pole position start in the qualifying heat.

Defending world champion Lorenzo completed a perfect 25-lap run in the lead before relinquishing it to Pedrosa just three laps from the end, crossing the line in second place.

“I made a good start and I’m really happy for that then I pushed to my maximum to try to open the gap to Dani,” said Lorenzo afterwards.

“Unfortunately today was not the day for that, he was too strong and consistent and at the end he was maybe fresher to push. Second is a good result, we have a lot of points from three races so I think we are in a good way to keep fighting for the championship. I want to thank my team who worked really hard this weekend to make sure we were as competitive as we could be.”

Lorenzo’s team-mate, American Ben Spies, was again denied the opportunity to complete the MotoGP race in Estoril. A tool used to temporarily block the fuel overflow pipe on grid was accidentally left in place for the race start, compromising the Texan’s ability to ride competitively.

The tool’s location adjacent to the front brake lever made it impossible for him to brake effectively, ultimately affecting his concentration which resulted in a crash with 15 laps remaining of the race.

The next round is at Le Mans in two weeks’ time.

Following the race in Portugal, Lorenzo added another 20 points to his championship tally, giving him a total of 65 at the top of the table, with Pedrosa now just four points behind.

Standings after three rounds:

1. Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing, 65;

2. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team, 61;

3. Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda Team, 41;

4. Valentino Rossi, Ducati Marlboro Team, 31;

5= Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda Team, 30;

5= Nicky Hayden, Ducati Marlboro Team, 30;

7. Hiroshi Aoyama, San Carlo Honda Gresini, 28;

8. Cal Crutchlow, Monster Yamaha Tech3, 21;

9. Colin Edwards, Monster Yamaha, Tech3, 18;

10. Héctor Barberá, Mapfre Aspar Team, 14;

11= Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing, 12;

11= Toni Elías, LCR Honda MotoGP, 12;

13. Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini, 11;

14. Ben Spies, Yamaha Factory Racing, 10;

15. Loris Capirossi, Pramac Racing Team, 9;

16= Randy de Puniet, Pramac Racing Team, 6;

16= John Hopkins, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 6;

18. Álvaro Bautista, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 3.