2013 Sachsenring MotoGP | Results

Yamaha Factory Racing's Valentino Rossi leads Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow

2013 Grand Prix of Germany Results

Spoiler Alert: 2013 MotoGP results from Sachsenring, Germany, listed below

There was much drama ahead of the 2013 Germany Grand Prix at Sachsenring. The MotoGP Championships points leader, Dani Pedrosa, and the man who trailed him by seven points, Jorge Lorenzo, were forced to sit out of Sunday’s race.

Both riders suffered huge high-side crashes during practice for round eight of 2013 MotoGP. Lorenzo re-injured his left shoulder, which he broke at Assen, and traveled back to Barcelona for further surgery. Pedrosa also injured his left shoulder, which he had troubles with throughout the 2011 MotoGP Championship. Pedrosa attempted to ride in Sunday’s race, but had low blood pressure and was ruled out.

With the top riders sidelined, the podium was wide open for the series’ other top riders, including Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, who took the Sachsenring pole, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi, who won at Assen two weeks ago, and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow.

And following a speculator performance at the 2.28-mile circuit featuring 13 turns (10 left, three right), the Spaniard Marquez took his second victory of 2013 MotoGP.

Marquez rode smartly, managing his tires with a style not typical of a rookie MotoGP rider. Due to this, the 20-year-old was able to hold off a charge by Crutchlow, who finished 1.559 seconds back. Taking third was Rossi, which was his third podium of 2013 MotoGP.

With his win, and Lorenzo and Pedrosa out, Marquez now holds the championship lead with 138 points, two ahead of Pedrosa, and 11 ahead of Lorenzo.

Starting from third on the grid, Rossi got to turn one first. The Italian – a five-time winner at Sachsenring – was followed by German’s Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda), Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar CRT), Marquez, Crutchlow, Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3).

Before a raving crowd, Bradl took over the lead on lap one as Bautista took fifth off Crutchlow. Once some heat was into the Bridgestones, Marquez began an all-out attack on the lead group. First he took third off Espargaro, who was later passed by Bautista and Crutchlow.

By the end of the fifth lap, Marquez made an aggressive pass on Rossi at turn 13, the final corner at Sachsenring. The RC213V MotoGP pilot then set his eyes on Bradl. Behind, Crutchlow was able to get through on Bautista, and began chasing down Rossi.

Bradl and Marquez pulled away from Rossi, and with 25 to go the two dragged down the front straightaway. The factory Honda was able to beat the satellite Honda, and Marquez took over the lead.

Marquez immediately began pulling away, as Bradl fell victim to Rossi, who made a clean inside pass with 22 laps remaining. Next to pass Bradl was Crutchlow, who took a tight line through turn 13 with 21 to go.

With 15 to go, Marquez had over two seconds on Rossi and Crutchlow, who were battling intensely for second. Crutchlow got the best of Rossi, though, the Brit’s satellite YZR-M1 passing Rossi’s factory machine on turn 13.

Crutchlow chased down Marquez, but couldn’t catch him. With a masterful display of patience and discipline, Marquez took the win, which was his second victory this season and seventh podium. Rossi took third, followed by Bradl, who equaled his premier-class best finish.

Bautista took fifth ahead of Smith; this was the first time two British riders (Crutchlow and Smith) finished in the top six in two decades. Andrea Dovizioso took the top spot for Ducati, edging out Espargaro, who continues  his streak of being the top CRT finisher this season. Rounding out the top 10 were Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden and Pramac Ducati’s Michele Pirro, who continues to substitute for the injured Ben Spies.

The riders now head directly to the states for next weekend’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, round nine of 18. Lorenzo has already tweeted that he would sit out Laguna Seca to further recover. As for Pedrosa, there’s no word yet. But if Pedrosa is forced to DNS at Laguna Seca, and Marquez has another flawless performance ahead of American fans as he did at Circuit of the Americas, the rookie may be on his way to making history as the youngest rider to win a championship.

2013 Sachsenring MotoGP Results:

1 25 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 160.2 41’14.653
2 20 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 160.1 +1.559
3 16 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 159.5 +9.620
4 13 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 159.3 +13.992
5 11 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 158.8 +21.775
6 10 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 158.6 +25.080
7 9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 158.2 +30.027
8 8 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 158.2 +30.324
9 7 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 157.3 +45.355
10 6 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 157.2 +47.142
11 5 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR 157.1 +47.824
12 4 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 157.1 +48.523
13 3 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 156.7 +54.428
14 2 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 156.3 +1’00.323
15 1 71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 156.0 +1’05.530
16 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 155.8 +1’09.153
17 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR 155.4 +1’15.601
18 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing ART 155.2 +1’19.683
19 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 153.4 1 Lap
Not Classified
67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda 154.1 3 Laps
68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Paul Bird Motorsport ART 149.5 29 Laps

2013 MotoGP Point Standings (after eight of 18 rounds):

Pos. Rider Bike Nation Points
1 Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA 138
2 Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 136
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 127
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha GBR 107
5 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA 101
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA 74
7 Stefan BRADL Honda GER 64
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA Honda SPA 58
9 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati USA 57
10 Aleix ESPARGARO ART SPA 52
11 Bradley SMITH Yamaha GBR 51
12 Michele PIRRO Ducati ITA 36
13 Andrea IANNONE Ducati ITA 24
14 Randy DE PUNIET ART FRA 19
15 Hector BARBERA FTR SPA 18
16 Danilo PETRUCCI Ioda-Suter ITA 15
17 Colin EDWARDS FTR Kawasaki USA 13
18 Ben SPIES Ducati USA 9
19 Yonny HERNANDEZ ART COL 6
20 Claudio CORTI FTR Kawasaki ITA 5
21 Michael LAVERTY PBM GBR 3
22 Karel ABRAHAM ART CZE 3
23 Bryan STARING FTR Honda AUS 2
24 Hiroshi AOYAMA FTR JPN 1
25 Javier DEL AMOR FTR SPA 1

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