Lorenzo edges injured Marquez in Silverstone thriller
Jorge Lorenzo has returned to winning ways in a highly dramatic Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone, beating championship leader Marc Marquez by less than one tenth of a second. Dani Pedrosa completed the podium as home favourite Cal Crutchlow struggled to seventh place.
On Saturday, Marquez had clinched his third pole position in five race meetings but further participation was put in doubt when he dislocated his left shoulder by crashing in Sunday morning Warm-Up. After being given the green light in the circuit Medical Centre, the 20-year-old Repsol Honda Team rider headed up the front row from Yamaha Factory Racing¢s Lorenzo and Monster Yamaha Tech3¢s Crutchlow.
Critically for Lorenzo, the Mallorcan made another strong start and dived into the lead at Copse corner. In a near repeat performance to Brno last weekend, he would proceed to resolutely defend from both Repsol Honda Team riders. Marquez then seized the advantage at Brooklands just over two laps from home, only for Lorenzo to retake the lead as he confidently out-braked his opponent at Vale. On the final lap, Marquez again grabbed the advantage at Brooklands, before Lorenzo re-passed in a confident move at Luffield, which featured slight contract between the two bikes.
The leading duo crossed the finish line separated by just 81 thousandths of a second, meaning Silverstone continues a pattern from Brno of witnessing the closest finish of the season so far.
Struggling for rear grip as soon as he reached the two riders at the front, Pedrosa was unable to take advantage of the battling pair in front of him. In fourth spot was Rossi who, having dropped back after his strong start, had become involved in yet another entertaining battle with GO&FUN Honda Gresini¢s Alvaro Bautista, while LCR Honda MotoGP¢s Stefan Bradl finished in sixth place.
Having missed his home race in 2011 before starting at the back in 2012, Cal Crutchlow had hoped for a much stronger Silverstone weekend in 2013. He crashed twice on Saturday and again in Sunday¢s Warm-Up, then paid the price for a poor getaway as the Tech3 rider plummeted from third to sixth at the start. He would fall back to his eventual finishing position of seventh when the charging Bautista – who had lined up eighth on the grid – overtook at the end of Lap 1.
Crutchlow¢s teammate Bradley Smith again found himself dicing with the pair of Ducati Team riders, but was ultimately taken advantage of by Nicky Hayden for eighth place.
Following the race, it was announced that Marquez has been given two Penalty Points under the new system due to not slowing down under the yellow flags in the morning Warm-Up. This also happened to be the moment that saw him crash at the same turn as Cal Crutchlow. Not to be confused with Championship Points, the penalty system was introduced in 2013, under which Up to 10 penalty points can be imposed, with sanctions applied at certain thresholds. Any rider reaching four penalty points starts the next race from the back of the grid, while seven points lead to a pit lane start and 10 points a race ban.
With the triple-header of Indianapolis, Brno and Silverstone now over, MotoGP™ returns in two weekends¢ time with the GP Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini from Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. With six events remaining in 2013, debutant Marquez carries an advantage of 30 points over Pedrosa, with Sunday¢s winner Lorenzo now trailing the championship leader by 39 points.
HERTZ BRITISH GRAND PRIX
MotoGP Race Classification 2013
Silverstone,
Sunday, September 01, 2013
Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time/Gap
1 25 99 Jorge LORENZO
SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 173.2 40'52.515
2 20 93 Marc MARQUEZ
SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 173.2 +0.081
3 16 26 Dani PEDROSA
SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 173.1 +1.551
4 13 46 Valentino ROSSI
ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 172.2 +13.233
5 11 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA
SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 172.2 +13.298
6 10 6 Stefan BRADL
GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 171.7 +20.227
7 9 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW
GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 171.3 +26.299
8 8 69 Nicky HAYDEN
USA Ducati Team Ducati 170.7 +35.993
9 7 38 Bradley SMITH
GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 170.6 +36.119
10 6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO
SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 169.5 +53.196
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | SPA | 233 |
2 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 203 |
3 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 194 |
4 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 156 |
5 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | GBR | 136 |
6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | GER | 113 |
7 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | SPA | 103 |
8 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | ITA | 96 |
9 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | USA | 88 |
10 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | SPA | 68 |
Saturday 2013/8/13
Marquez sets new pole position record at Silverstone
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 |
MotoGP™ championship leader Marc Marquez set an incredible lap time of 2¢00.691 to clinch pole position for Sunday¢s Hertz British Grand Prix. The Repsol Honda Team rider went head-to-head with reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, who will start second from Cal Crutchlow despite two earlier crashes for the Englishman.
Marquez¢s remarkable effort sees the Spaniard clinch his fifth pole of the season and third in five Grand Prix weekends, beating Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) by just over one tenth of a second while third-placed Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech3) was a further six tenths in arrears; however this came after two separate crashes for Crutchlow during third practice this morning. The top five was completed by LCR Honda MotoGP¢s Stefan Bradl and Marquez¢s teammate Dani Pedrosa, who was the final rider within one second of the pole position time - a new qualifying record.
Second Yamaha Factory Racing rider Valentino Rossi will complete Row 2 in sixth position, while the third row will consist of Ducati Team duo Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden who sandwich GO&FUN Honda Gresini¢s Alvaro Bautista in seventh, eighth and ninth places. The top ten was completed by Tech3¢s Bradley Smith, while NGM Mobile Forward Racing¢s Colin Edwards appeared in Q2 for the third successive event and achieves his best qualifying result of the year so far in 11th.
The 2013 Hertz British Grand Prix begins at 1pm local time (GMT +1) on Sunday, coming after the Moto2 race but before Moto3, as was also the case at Brno.
Comment: The 0.13 seconds gap between Marquez and Lorenzo is negligible in the case of a 2 minutes lap time. Everything is possible for tomorrow!
HERTZ BRITISH GRAND PRIX
MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification 2013
Silverstone, Saturday, August 31, 2013
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ
SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 323.5 2'00.691
2 99 Jorge LORENZO
SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 322.0 2'00.819 0.128 / 0.128
3 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW
GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 319.7 2'01.425 0.734 / 0.606
4 6 Stefan BRADL
GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 326.3 2'01.558 0.867 / 0.133
5 26 Dani PEDROSA
SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 323.1 2'01.624 0.933 / 0.066
6 46 Valentino ROSSI
ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 322.3 2'02.109 1.418 / 0.485
7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO
ITA Ducati Team Ducati 321.3 2'02.123 1.432 / 0.014
8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA
SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 325.2 2'02.252 1.561 / 0.129
9 69 Nicky HAYDEN
USA Ducati Team Ducati 321.3 2'02.289 1.598 / 0.037
10 38 Bradley SMITH
GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 320.0 2'02.409 1.718 / 0.120