2013 Laguna Seca MotoGP | Results

2013 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix Results

Spoiler Alert: 2013 MotoGP results listed below from the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

History was once again made in the 2013 MotoGP Championship following Repsol Honda Marc Marquez’s win at the 2013 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old Marquez became the youngest back-to-back race winner, ousting the record held by Freddie Spencer. He also became the first rookie to ever win at Laguna Seca.

The current MotoGP points leader of Spain was joined on the podium at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca by pole-sitter Stefan Bradl and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi.

This was Marquez’s third victory of the season, his other two arriving at Circuit of the Americas and last weekend’s German round at Sachsenring. Him and Lorenzo are now tied for wins after nine of 18 rounds. With his win, Marquez finished on the podium in eight of nine races.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “Before I came here, I was expecting to struggle more. From the TV, this circuit looked so tricky. Since FP1 I have felt so good. Next time I’ll be able to learn where all of the bumps are and everything – yesterday I found a new bump, when I crashed at Turn 6! Anyway, today in the race it was so good.

“At the beginning, with a full fuel tank, I was little bit scared because – with all of those bumps – it’s so easy to lose the front. I overtook Valentino (Rossi) then caught Bradl; I stayed behind him for about 12 laps, then tried to pass him to open up a gap. I’m very, very happy because it’s a new circuit and I’ve got 25 points. I’m very happy because it’s great to go into the summer break with this result.”

Marquez couldn’t catch Bradl during qualifying, but things were much different on race day. Bradl got out front first, followed by Rossi and GO&FUN Honda’s Alvaro Bautista, who began from third on the grid.

Marquez, who started from second, fell back to fourth, but made quick work of Bautista. He then passed Rossi on the infamous Corkscrew at the shortest circuit on the 2013 MotoGP Championship, and began chasing down Bradl. On lap 19 of 32, Marquez passed Bradl, and eventually took the checkered flag 2.2 seconds ahead of the German.

Bradl rode clean, and after Marquez passed him, the 2011 Moto2 Champion remained smooth and calm. He had a huge margin over Rossi, and was able to take his first-ever podium. Before the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, Bradl had three four-place finishes, but could never reach the podium. But this all changed at Laguna.

Rossi finished 4.4 seconds back in third, which was the Italian’s third consecutive podium, including his win at Assen. The Netherlands victory was his first win since the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2010. Bautista put much pressure on Rossi, who is known for his famed pass on Casey Stoner (Ducati) in 2008. But Bautista would have to settle for fourth.

Taking fifth was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who is recovering from a left collarbone injury sustained at Sachsenring. The Spaniard finished 9.2 seconds behind his teammate Marquez. The other man who rode with a left collarbone injury, the reigning MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo, finished sixth. The Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 pilot was passed by Pedrosa at Andretti Hairpin.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow finished seventh. The Brit suffered a heavy crash Saturday and was forced to use a back-up bike for the second qualifying session.

Crutchlow finished 15.3 seconds behind Marquez. The next group of riders finished over 33 seconds back, lead by Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden in eighth. The American was followed by teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Avintia Blusens FTR CRT’s Hector Barbera. With his finish, he became the first rider other than Aleix Espargaro to lead the CRT class this season.

Barbera finished ahead of Ben Spies replacement rider, Moto2’s Alex De Angelis aboard the Pramac Racing ucati, and NGM Mobile Forward Racing Kawasaki’s Colin Edwards.

Unfortunately, Espargaro crashed and was forced to DNF. Four other riders also not finished due to technical issues –  Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, PBM’s Michael Laverty and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti.

With his win, Marquez now holds a 16-point lead over teammate Pedrosa. Lorenzo is in third, 26 points behind Marquez. With his podium finish, Rossi bumped Crutchlow from fourth; Rossi trails Marquez by 46 points.

With the first half of the season over, the 2013 MotoGP takes a month-long summer break before the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix Aug. 16-18.

Photos by Ara Ashjian

2013 Laguna Seca MotoGP Results:

1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	157.4	44’00.695
2	20	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	157.3	+2.298
3	16	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	157.2	+4.498
4	13	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	Honda	157.2	+4.557
5	11	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	156.9	+9.257
6	10	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	156.7	+12.970
7	9	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	156.5	+15.304
8	8	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	155.4	+33.963
9	7	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	155.4	+34.129
10	6	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Blusens	FTR	153.8	+1’02.369
11	5	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	RSM	Ignite Pramac Racing	Ducati	153.8	+1’02.604
12	4	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	FTR Kawasaki	153.7	+1’03.593
13	3	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda-Suter	152.8	+1’20.450
14	2	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	ART	152.2	1 Lap
15	1	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	151.6	1 Lap
16		7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Avintia Blusens	FTR	151.6	1 Lap
17		67	Bryan STARING	AUS	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	FTR Honda	151.1	1 Lap
18		52	Lukas PESEK	CZE	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda-Suter	148.8	1 Lap
Not Classified
		38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	153.8	25 Laps
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	153.3	27 Laps
		14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	149.9	28 Laps
		71	Claudio CORTI	ITA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	FTR Kawasaki	44.9	29 Laps
		70	Michael LAVERTY	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	138.8	31 Laps

2013 MotoGP Championship Point Standings (after nine of 18 rounds):

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	163
2	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	147
3	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	137
4	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	117
5	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Yamaha	GBR	116
6	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	84
7	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	81
8	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Honda	SPA	71
9	Nicky HAYDEN	Ducati	USA	65
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	Hector BARBERA	FTR	SPA	24
15	Randy DE PUNIET	ART	FRA	19
16	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ioda-Suter	ITA	18
17	Colin EDWARDS	FTR Kawasaki	USA	17
18	Ben SPIES	Ducati	USA	9
19	Yonny HERNANDEZ	ART	COL	7
20	Alex DE ANGELIS	Ducati	RSM	5
21	Claudio CORTI	FTR Kawasaki	ITA	5
22	Karel ABRAHAM	ART	CZE	5
23	Michael LAVERTY	PBM	GBR	3
24	Bryan STARING	FTR Honda	AUS	2
25	Hiroshi AOYAMA	FTR	JPN	1
26	Javier DEL AMOR	FTR	SPA	1