2013 Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP Results
Spoiler Alert: 2013 MotoGP results from Twin Ring Motegi, Japan, listed below
Heading into the penultimate round of the 2013 MotoGP Championship – also the final race in three back-to-back rounds – Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez held an 18-point lead on Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo.
The 20-year-old Spaniard needed to leave the Motegi with 26 points or more ahead of Lorenzo, and he would become the first rookie to take a MotoGP title since Freddie Spencer 35 years.
But Lorenzo was hungry for a third premier-class title, and ran a flawless race Sunday. Thankfully riders were greeted with dry conditions, not like the rain that had affected the Motegi circuit Friday and Saturday. The inclement weather kept the riders off the track on Friday, and on Saturday Race Direction amended the events to one, 50-minute qualifying session.
Even in the wet Lorenzo was hungry, taking his fourth pole position by over six-tenths of a second from Marquez. And on Sunday, he fended off many attacks from the Repsol Honda duo of Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.
But Lorenzo ran a disciplined 24 laps, leading from lights to the checkered flag. Joining Lorenzo on the podium was Marquez and Pedrosa, respectively. With his win, the title fight will go down to the final round set for Valencia Nov. 8-10; Marquez now leads Lorenzo by a mere 13 points. This is the first time the championship went down to the wire since 2006 when then-Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden took the title from Valentino Rossi by five points.
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “We chose the soft tyre and the others chose the hard tyre, we knew that at the end of the race we might have problems but finally I could push even more the lap times. The strategy could have been different but to take this win at the home of Honda makes me very happy.”
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “Second place today is a very good result. After my crash in warmup, I knew that it would be difficult to be consistent ‒because in the morning I hadn’t managed that either. This was my first time at this track with a MotoGP bike and in practice I was unable to get any references in the dry, leaving me with only the warm up and the race in which to find my way.
“I saw that Jorge [Lorenzo] was a little stronger than us here and I had a couple of scary moments, making me decide that twenty points and the gap being reduced by only five points would be a decent result. There is only one race remaining ‒the most important of the year‒ so we shall try to be more focused than ever at Valencia.”
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “It was a bit of a boring race for me, because I tried to give everything but I had a lot of problems exiting the corners; I was unable to get on the gas fully and I lost a lot of time to Marc (Marquez) and Jorge [Lorenzo]. I was third for the entire race, trying to hold onto them. However, at the midway point of the race my pace started to become slower than theirs. Now we have to focus on the next race, in Valencia, where we shall try to do as well as possible.”
From the pole, Lorenzo would get to the front first, followed by Marquez, Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Rossi. The nine-time World Champion tried to help his teammate out, but suffered braking issues at turn 11 twice, and fell to mid pack.
Lorenzo would come under severe pressure from Marquez at the mid-way point of the race, with Pedrosa in hot pursuit. However, the Mallorcan was spared some breathing space as Marquez made mistakes at both Turn 11 and Turn 1. Marquez would never be as close to Lorenzo again, eventually ending the day 3.1 seconds in arrears. Pedrosa’s third place marked his 12th podium finish of the season, but the Sabadell rider was unable to complete a hat trick of Motegi victories, as his chances for the 2013 world title officially evaporated., MotoGP reports.
Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl rounded out the top five, with the GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider having slipstreamed his way past the LCR Honda MotoGP bike at the start of the eighth lap. Rossi fought back to sixth place after running as low as 11th, while Cal Crutchlow, who suffered from overheating brakes, got the better of impressive Monster Yamaha Tech3 teammate Bradley Smith in seventh and eighth spots, MotoGP reports.
Ducati Team completed the top ten with Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso, while 11th place was taken by wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga for the Yamaha YSP Racing Team. In 12th was lead CRT rider Colin Edwards (NGM Mobile Forward Racing), with Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro having become the third of three retirements courtesy of a high-speed accident due to loss of braking power – he escaped with a left hip contusion. Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing Project) was first to retire, while Cardion AB Motoracing’s Luca Scassa pulled into the pit lane with a loose right foot peg, MotoGP reports.
2013 Motegi MotoGP Results:
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 162.3 | 42’34.291 |
2 | 20 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 162.1 | +3.188 |
3 | 16 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 162.1 | +4.592 |
4 | 13 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | Honda | 161.1 | +19.755 |
5 | 11 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 160.9 | +22.810 |
6 | 10 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 160.8 | +24.637 |
7 | 9 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 160.6 | +27.496 |
8 | 8 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 160.4 | +30.969 |
9 | 7 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 160.0 | +37.010 |
10 | 6 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 159.7 | +42.944 |
11 | 5 | 21 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | JPN | Yamaha YSP Racing Team | Yamaha | 159.0 | +53.345 |
12 | 4 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR Kawasaki | 158.4 | +1’03.213 |
13 | 3 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 158.2 | +1’06.840 |
14 | 2 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing | Ducati | 158.1 | +1’08.218 |
15 | 1 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Ignite Pramac Racing | Ducati | 157.5 | +1’18.240 |
16 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | FTR | 157.5 | +1’19.108 | |
17 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | JPN | Avintia Blusens | FTR | 157.3 | +1’21.174 | |
18 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 156.8 | +1’30.546 | |
19 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 153.7 | +2’23.358 | |
20 | 71 | Claudio CORTI | ITA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR Kawasaki | 154.4 | 1 Lap | |
21 | 50 | Damian CUDLIN | AUS | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM | 153.4 | 1 Lap | |
22 | 67 | Bryan STARING | AUS | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | FTR Honda | 153.2 | 1 Lap | |
Not Classified | ||||||||
41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 158.3 | 12 Laps | ||
23 | Luca SCASSA | ITA | Cardion AB Motoracing | ART | 144.3 | 23 Laps | ||
52 | Lukas PESEK | CZE | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 139.3 | 23 Laps |
2013 MotoGP Championship Point Standings (after 17 or 18 rounds):
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | SPA | 318 |
2 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 305 |
3 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 280 |
4 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 224 |
5 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | GBR | 188 |
6 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | SPA | 160 |
7 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | GER | 146 |
8 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | ITA | 133 |
9 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | USA | 118 |
10 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | GBR | 107 |
11 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | SPA | 88 |
12 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | ITA | 57 |
13 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | ITA | 50 |
14 | Colin EDWARDS | FTR Kawasaki | USA | 40 |
15 | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | FRA | 36 |
16 | Hector BARBERA | FTR | SPA | 31 |
17 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda-Suter | ITA | 24 |
18 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | COL | 21 |
19 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | FTR | JPN | 13 |
20 | Claudio CORTI | FTR Kawasaki | ITA | 11 |
21 | Ben SPIES | Ducati | USA | 9 |
22 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | Yamaha | JPN | 5 |
23 | Alex DE ANGELIS | Ducati | RSM | 5 |
24 | Karel ABRAHAM | ART | CZE | 5 |
25 | Michael LAVERTY | PBM | GBR | 3 |
26 | Bryan STARING | FTR Honda | AUS | 2 |
27 | Javier DEL AMOR | FTR | SPA | 1 |