2013 Le Mans MotoGP | Results

2013 MotoGP Championship Results

Spoiler Alert: 2013 MotoGP results from Le Mans, France, listed below

There’s a new crop of “aliens” in the MotoGP Championship, and they are all from Spain.

Following the first three rounds of the 2013 MotoGP Championship, the only non-Spaniard rider to finish on a podium was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi.

The Italian finished second at the opening round in Qatar. But besides that, three Spanish riders have reigned – the defending MotoGP Champion, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and the rookie’s teammate, Dani Pedrosa.

Lorenzo won round 1 at Qatar, Marquez round 2 at Circuit of the Americas in Texas, and Pedrosa round 3 at Jerez.

And as the series headed to the iconic Le Mans Bugatti Circuit in France this weekend for round four of 18 in 2013 MotoGP, these three Spaniards were the favorites.

But things changed significantly due to slick conditions from the rain at the 2.579-circuit, which joined the World Championship in 1969, the year Giacomo Agostini lapped every rider in the field to take the win for MV Agusta.

This didn’t stop one Spaniard, though. After swapping the lead numerous times with Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso, Pedrosa took his second consecutive win.

He finished 4.863 ahead of Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow, which was the Brit’s best finish ever in MotoGP. Taking the final podium position after a falling back as far as eighth was Marquez.

When the 28-lap race got underway, Dovi took the holeshot, heading into turn one ahead of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, LCR Honda’s Bradl, Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone and Rossi. The pole man Marquez took a cautious start, starting in eighth.

Middway through the first lap, Rossi, who took two podiums at Le Mans while struggling on the Ducati, had taken both Iannone and Hayden. By the start of lap two, the nine-time World Champion who qualified eighth was into fourth.

Up front, Dovi had almost a second on Lorenzo, who was battling with the man who suffered a huge crash in qualifying en route to his sixth-place start, Pedrosa.

With 26 to go, Pedrosa slipped pass Lorenzo for second, while Rossi continued to close the gap on the lead group. Pedorsa put immediate pressure on Dovizioso, eventually taking the lead on the back straight during lap 24.

While Dovizioso and Pedrosa exchanged the lead, Lorenzo lost three spots, allowing Rossi to grab third.

Behind Rossi was the man who was posting the quickest lap times, Crutchlow, and the 2006 MotoGP Champion Hayden.

Lorenzo continued to struggle, and with 19 to go, Bradl also got pass, placing the two-time MotoGP Champion into seventh. Behind Lorenzo, Marquez was making up ground, the rookie soon posting the quickest lap of the race.

Up front, Pedrosa and Dovi continued to pass, the Spaniard making a daring pass on Dovi midway through the corner leading into the back straight. Behind, Rossi was holding off a charging Crtuchlow, and Hayden was stalking alone in fifth.

Dovi retaliated, but Pedrosa was back into the lead by the start of lap 14. The Spaniard began pulling away as skinny dry line began to form, allowing the riders to carry more speed through the corners.

Behind, Marquez, took Lorenzo for seventh, and Hayden was all over the rear Bridgestone of Rossi. Next to take Lorenzo was GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista.

With nine to go, two riders crashed out – Bradl and Rossi. Bradl lost the front, and was able to rejoin the race. As for Rossi, he crashed while battling with Hayden in fourth.

The Ducati rider did an amazing job standing his bike up and getting hard on the brakes to avoid crashing into Rossi. Rossi would return, though, and finish 12th.

By this time, Pedrosa almost had five seconds on Dovi, who was under much pressure from Crutchlow. Unfortunately, Dovi made a mistake on the GP13, suffering a rear slide, allowing Crutchlow into second. Behind, Marquez took fourth from Hayden.

As Crutchlow pulled away, Marquez chased down Dovi and made a clean pass on the drying line with two to go.

The grid would finish this way up front. Pedrosa won by 4.863 seconds ahead of Crutchlow, and 6.949 seconds ahead of Marquez.

Dovi finished fourth, followed by Hayden, which were the highest-placed finishes for Ducati so far this year. Sixth went to Bautista, who finished ahead of Lorenzo and Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati’s Michele Pirro, who is substituting for the injured Ben Spies.

Rounding out the top 10 were Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl. The top CRT honors once again went to Power Electronics Aspar ART’s Aleix Espargaro. The Spaniard has been the top CRT finishing in every round so far.

With his win, Pedrosa holds the championship lead with 83 points, six ahead of Marquez. Lorenzo is third, 10 points behind Marquez. Marquez is in fourth with 55 points, and Rossi fifth with 47.

The 2013 MotoGP Championship will break for two weeks ahead of round five at Mugello for the Grand Prix of Italy.

2013 Le Mans MotoGP Results:

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