Spoiler Alert: 2013 MotoGP Championship results from Brno in Czechoslovakia listed below
The 2013 MotoGP Championship headed this weekend to the sweeping Brno circuit in Czechoslovakia. The 3.357-mile circuit, which was built in 1987, contains 14 turns and multiple elevation changes, providing tough conditions on the spec Bridgestone Tires.
But after 22 laps, three Spanish riders once again mastered another round in 2013 – Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa, and Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorge Lorenzo.
Marquez was victorious at a race constantly threatened with rain, taking his fourth straight win and fifth of the season. He also broke another record for first rookie to ever claim five victories in his maiden season. He was joined on the Brno MotoGP podium by Pedrosa and the reigning MotoGP Champion Lorenzo.
Starting from fifth on the grid, Lorenzo got to turn one first ahead of Marquez, Pedrosa, and the pole man, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow.
Lorenzo began to gap the field, opening up over a second lead on Marquez and Pedrosa, who were stalked closely by Crutchlow and the man who started from second on the grid, GO&FUN Honda Gresini's Alvaro Bautista.
But with 19 to go, the 20-year-old Marquez had the gap down to under a second as Bautista took fourth from Crutchlow. Marquez once again displayed huge amounts on patience, and by lap 8, was involved in an intense battle with Lorenzo.
The two swapped the lead numerous times, but Marquez wouldn't make the pass stick until four laps remained. This is when Marquez passed Lorenzo on the turn 3, and held the lead to take his fifth win of 2013 MotoGP.
Pedrosa also passed Lorenzo a lap later, and began chasing down Marquez. But Pedrosa would finish 0.313 of a second behind. Lorenzo finished 2.277 seconds behind Marquez.
While running in fifth, Crutchlow crashed with 15 to go, just as his teammate Bradley Smith did on lap 3. Crutchlow had just set his personal best lap at Brno before crashing. He was able to rejoin, eventually finishing 17th,
With Crutchlow out, this left a battle for fourth between Bautista and Yamaha Factory Team's Valentino Rossi. But the nine-time World Champion, who took his first World Championship victory at Brno back in 1996, was able to finish fourth, 10.101 seconds behind Marquez, and only 0.077 of a second ahead of Bautista.
Finishing alone in sixth was LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl, who was over 19 seconds off the top rider. Next up was the Ducati duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, both riders over 35 seconds behind the lead group.
Rounding out the top 10 were Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati's Andrea Iannone and the top CRT bike, Power Electronics Aspar's Aleix Espargaro, respectively. The American Colin Edwards finished 11th on the NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki, followed by Ben Spies replacement on the Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati, Michele Pirro, a Ducati Team test rider.
Spies recently underwent shoulder surgery after sustaining further damage during a practice crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Besides Smith, the other riders to DNF were Avintia Blusens’ Hector Barbera and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti after the two contacted each other on the second lap. Corti underwent an x-ray to his right hand, though nothing was reported broken. Home rider Came IodaRacing Project’s Lukas Pesek also crashed out on the third lap.
The MotoGP grid will travel directly to the UK for the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the final of three back-to-back races.
Heading into Silverstone, Marquez has 213 points, 26 (equivalent to a race) ahead of Pedrosa, and 44 ahead of Lorenzo.
2013 Brno MotoGP Results:
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 166.4 | 42'50.729 |
| 2 | 20 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 166.4 | +0.313 |
| 3 | 16 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 166.3 | +2.277 |
| 4 | 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 165.8 | +10.101 |
| 5 | 11 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | Honda | 165.8 | +10.178 |
| 6 | 10 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 165.1 | +19.807 |
| 7 | 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 164.2 | +35.015 |
| 8 | 8 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 164.1 | +35.354 |
| 9 | 7 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing | Ducati | 163.2 | +51.149 |
| 10 | 6 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 162.8 | +56.392 |
| 11 | 5 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR Kawasaki | 162.8 | +57.420 |
| 12 | 4 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | Ignite Pramac Racing | Ducati | 162.3 | +1'05.430 |
| 13 | 3 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 161.9 | +1'12.364 |
| 14 | 2 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | JPN | Avintia Blusens | FTR | 161.8 | +1'13.500 |
| 15 | 1 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 161.7 | +1'14.128 |
| 16 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 161.7 | +1'14.991 | |
| 17 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 161.3 | +1'20.640 | |
| 18 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM | 160.5 | +1'34.462 | |
| 19 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | ART | 159.6 | +1'49.713 | |
| 20 | 67 | Bryan STARING | AUS | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | FTR Honda | 159.6 | +1'50.024 | |
| 21 | 45 | Martin BAUER | AUT | Remus Racing Team | S&B Suter | 152.5 | 1 Lap | |
| Not Classified | ||||||||
| 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 161.4 | 20 Laps | ||
| 52 | Lukas PESEK | CZE | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 156.0 | 20 Laps | ||
| 71 | Claudio CORTI | ITA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR Kawasaki | 152.4 | 21 Laps | ||
| 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | FTR | 152.2 | 21 Laps | ||
2013 MotoGP Point Standings (after 11 of 18 rounds):
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | SPA | 213 |
| 2 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 187 |
| 3 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 169 |
| 4 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 143 |
| 5 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | GBR | 127 |
| 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | GER | 103 |
| 7 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | ITA | 96 |
| 8 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | SPA | 92 |
| 9 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | USA | 80 |
| 10 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | SPA | 62 |
| 11 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | GBR | 59 |
| 12 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | ITA | 40 |
| 13 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | ITA | 36 |
| 14 | Colin EDWARDS | FTR Kawasaki | USA | 25 |
| 15 | Hector BARBERA | FTR | SPA | 24 |
| 16 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda-Suter | ITA | 21 |
| 17 | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | FRA | 20 |
| 18 | Ben SPIES | Ducati | USA | 9 |
| 19 | Claudio CORTI | FTR Kawasaki | ITA | 7 |
| 20 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | ART | COL | 7 |
| 21 | Alex DE ANGELIS | Ducati | RSM | 5 |
| 22 | Karel ABRAHAM | ART | CZE | 5 |
| 23 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | FTR | JPN | 4 |
| 24 | Michael LAVERTY | PBM | GBR | 3 |
| 25 | Bryan STARING | FTR Honda | AUS | 2 |
| 26 | Javier DEL AMOR | FTR | SPA | 1 |
