Monday 22 July: Marc Marquez has won Sunday’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, becoming the youngest ever back-to-back race winner in MotoGP™.
On Saturday, Bradl had stormed to a maiden pole position while Marquez
suffered a crash in qualifying. On Sunday, the Spaniard patiently
followed the German before pulling off a clean manoeuvre at the end of
the 19th lap. Five riders failed to make the distance at the notoriously difficult anti-clockwise circuit, the shortest on the calendar.
Marquez’s third victory of the year equals the sum of reigning World
Champion Jorge Lorenzo. The Repsol Honda rider sank as low as fourth
after a poor start, but stayed ahead of Bautista in the early stages and
crucially pulled off a confident pass on Rossi at the world-famous
Corkscrew corner. He soon homed in on Bradl, overtaking the German and
winning by 2.2 seconds. In doing so, Marquez wins for the second time
within the space of a week and steals former double champion Freddie
Spencer’s record of being the youngest MotoGP™ rider to triumph in
consecutive Grands Prix. Furthermore, he makes history by becoming the
first rookie rider to win at Laguna Seca.
Bradl’s ride to second was one of calm and composure. A clean getaway
allowed the LCR Honda MotoGP rider to head the field from his first ever
pole in the top class. The 2011 Moto2™ World Champion was assisted by
the fact that those behind him were battling early on, but by the 17th
tour had the recovering Marquez only two tenths of a second behind.
Once the overtake had occurred two laps later, Bradl comfortably managed
a two-second gap back to Rossi to clinch his maiden premier class
podium, improving on his previous best of fourth – achieved on three
occasions.
Having not finished on the podium until he won Round 7 at Assen, Yamaha
Factory Racing’s Rossi has now taken the chequered flag inside the top
three for as many races in a row. The Italian, who had famously
overtaken Casey Stoner at the Corkscrew five years ago, was this time
passed in the same place by Marquez before holding off a significant
attack from Bautista over the closing laps; the Spaniard briefly edged
ahead before the final corner, but was kept behind. Another third place
for Rossi sees him jump ahead of Cal Crutchlow for fourth in the
standings.
Laguna Seca had always promised to be a weekend of damage limitation
for both Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) and Pedrosa (Repsol Honda
Team). Both men continued to suffer with left collarbone injuries as
they finished fifth and sixth, with Pedrosa having moved ahead of his
rival in an overtake at the Andretti Hairpin. The duo finished in front
of Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Crutchlow, who on Saturday had been left
confused by a crash before taking part in Q2 with his second bike.
The top ten was completed by Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden and Andrea
Dovizioso – who during the race made side-to-side contact on the
start/finish straight – and Avintia Blusens’ Hector Barbera, who became
the first rider other than Aleix Espargaro to lead the CRT runners in
2013. Espargaro crashed at the last corner, while Power Electronics
Aspar teammate Randy de Puniet retired with technical problems. Tech 3’s
Bradley Smith also stopped with mechanical gremlins, while the first
two retirements were PBM’s Michael Laverty and NGM Mobile Forward
Racing’s Claudio Corti.
In 11th, Ignite Pramac Racing’s Alex de Angelis scored while covering for the injured Ben Spies, while Colin Edwards finished 12th
for Forward Racing. The top 15 was completed by Danilo Petrucci (Came
IodaRacing Project), Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and Yonny
Hernandez (PBM).
With the first half of the season now completed, MotoGP™ heads into its
summer break before returning with the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix
in mid-August. Marquez carries a 16-point advantage over teammate
Pedrosa and has finished on the podium in eight of his first nine races
since joining the premier class as reigning Moto2™ World Champion.
Jordi Torres has taken his maiden career victory in the Moto2™ eni
Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, becoming the fifth different rider to
win in the intermediate class this year. Simone Corsi beat Pol Espargaro
to second, championship leader Scott Redding was seventh and Xavier
Simeon fell to ninth place from pole.
On Saturday, Torres was narrowly beaten to the top grid position as
Simeon claimed his career-first pole position for Desguaces La Torre
Maptaq. Torres (Aspar Team Moto2) would start second, while from the
front row Espargaro (Tuenti HP 40) aimed to make the most of an
eighth-placed start for chief rival Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team).
Espargaro immediately seized the lead off the start line and would hold
the advantage until Lap 19, when Torres – who maintained a consistent
pace over the full 29-lap distance – dived through at the Sachsen Kurve.
Behind the leading duo, Simone Corsi kept a watching brief and
opportunistically overtook Espargaro for second place on the final lap;
this capped off his first rostrum for almost two years. Despite dropping
back another position, Espargaro finished four positions in front of
Redding.
Fourth place went to Italtrans Racing Team’s Julian Simon, while
multiple Sachsenring podium finisher Alex de Angelis put on a charge in
the second half of the Grand Prix to finish inside the top five for NGM
Mobile Forward Racing, overhauling Tom Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2
Racing) and championship leader Redding, who endures his worst result of
2013 thus far. Pole man Simeon could not demonstrate such strong race
pace and finished 12.8 seconds behind the winner.
Six riders failed to make the finish. Tech 3’s Danny Kent and TargoBank
Motorsport wildcard Alex Mariñelarena departed the race early, with the
Spaniard sustaining a contusion to the left knee. Blusens Avintia’s
Kyle Smith was next to fall, soon joined on the sidelines by Desguaces
La Torre SAG’s Marcel Schrotter. Argiñano & Gines Racing’s Roman
Ramos (covering for Alberto Moncayo, who was injured in a training
accident) retired into the pit lane and while winner Torres’ teammate
Jordi Terol crashed out in the closing stages of the race.
Heading into the summer break, Redding continues to top the standings
(143 points), although Espargaro (120) has reduced the gap from 30 to
23. Espargaro’s teammate Tito Rabat (88) has lost ground, having scored
only two points for 14th place on Sunday. Reigning Moto3™
World Champion Sandro Cortese picked up the final point for Dynavolt
Intact GP, while one standout performance came from QMMF Racing Team’s
Anthony West who rose to eighth from 16th on the grid.
Sunday’s result marks the first time in 2013 that three different makes
of Moto2™ chassis – Suter, Speed Up and Kalex – have shared the podium.
The action will continue with the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix in
mid-August.
Moto3: Rins beats Salom after last-lap pass
Alex Rins has won the Moto3™ eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland from
pole position, overhauling championship leader Luis Salom at the
penultimate corner of the race. Maverick Viñales, who also battled for
the lead throughout, was third to ensure that the top three riders in
the championship filled the podium places.
On Saturday at the Sachsenring, Rins has picked up his third pole
position of the season for Estrella Galicia 0,0 and was highly keen to
place himself back in the championship fight following a costly
retirement at Jerez earlier in the season.
Rins led from pole, but after an entertaining battle with Viñales
elected to yield the lead to the Team Calvo rider. The order would
continue to change between the duo, until Lap 24 when Viñales took the
advantage after Rins ran wide, only for Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Salom – who
had typically waited patiently in third position – to seize the
advantage in an impressive double overtaking manoeuvre at Sachsen Kurve.
Following Salom’s move, Rins crucially passed Viñales into the final
bend which allowed him three laps to hunt down the new leader. The
margin was three tenths of a second at the start of the last lap, but
Rins bravely dived up the inside of the penultimate corner to seal his
second victory after Austin, Texas while the leading trio crossed the
finish line separated by only two and a half tenths of a second.
In fourth position, Mahindra Racing’s Miguel Oliveira overhauled
Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Marquez in the closing stages, with the
latter having made a charge in the second half of the race. Efren
Vazquez was sixth on the second Mahindra, while Jack Miller was
disappointed to finish seventh for Caretta Technology – RTG, having
started fifth on the grid. The top eight was rounded out by equally
disappointed home rider Jonas Folger (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3), who had
been fourth on the grid.
Ongetta-Rivacold’s Alexis Masbou did not make the start following a
problem in the Warm-Up, whereas four riders crashed out of the race. An
early mistake by wildcard rider Kevin Hanus (Thomas Sabo GP Team) saw
him collect Eric Granado (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3), whereas wildcard
Luca Amato (Mahindra Spiel-Kiste) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (GO&FUN
Gresini Moto3) made mistakes of their own.
Sunday’s result sees Salom retain his championship lead (172 points),
with Viñales remaining second (158). Race winner Rins (142) has now
moved closer to second place overall as 30 points cover the top three.
Moto3™ now takes a break of one month before returning for the Red Bull
Indianapolis Grand Prix on 18 August
