MotoGP 2013 - Rd8 - Sachsenring
The 20-year-old Spaniard's victory came under unusual circumstances, after both Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) failed to start to race.
QUALIFYING
As previously reported, Lorenzo crashed in qualifying at Assen, breaking his left collarbone. After bravely choosing to ride in that race after having the break plated, Lorenzo crashed again in qualifying at the Sachsenring, landing heavily on his shoulder and bending the plate that had been inserted. This ruled the defending champion out of the race, and has also put him in doubt for next weekend's event at Laguna Seca.
Pedrosa suffered an almost identical injury after highsiding in practise, but the fracture to the championship leader's left collarbone was not as severe as that suffered by Lorenzo. Initially cleared to compete on Sunday, Pedrosa reportedly suffered dizzy spells in the morning warm up, and elected to sit out the race on medical advice.
Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow crashed twice in practise, but was cleared to race by medical staff. Ducati Team's Andrea Dovizioso and Pramac Racing's Andrea Iannone also joined the crashers. For Dovizioso, his crash meant that he wrote off his only GP13 "Evolution" chassis, having to revert back to the regular GP13 for the rest of the weekend. For Iannone, a dislocated right shoulder and fractured upper arm meant he was another non-starter for the race and will likely miss the following race at Laguna Seca, too.
Away from the crashes, Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) topped the timesheets early in his home race, with a 1'22.030. This was later bettered by Marquez, who recorded a 1'21.311 to claim pole. This time was within three tenths of a second of Casey Stoner's best ever lap of the Sachsenring - which had been achieved in the era of qualifying tyres in 2008.
Despite his injuries, Crutchlow put in a gritty 1'21.434, which was good enough for second on the grid alongside Marquez, while a 1'21.493 from Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing) saw the Italian veteran secure his first front row start since the Portuguese Grand Prix of 2010 - 988 days ago!
Row 2 of the grid was headed up by Bradl, while Aleix Espargaro outqualified the Ducatis as well as some of the satellite factory teams on the Power Electronics Aspar CRT machine. Ducati Team's Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso qualified sixth and ninth respectively, split by Tech 3 Yamaha's Bradley Smith and GO&FUN Honda Gresini's Alvaro Bautista. Australia's Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini CRT) qualified 22nd.
RACE
Compared to the drama of practise and qualifying, the race was almost a non-event, but still had its moments, especially in the early stages.
In warm, dry conditions, Rossi bolted from the lights to take the holeshot, however it was Bradl who impressed to retake the lead before the end of the opening lap. The start from Espargaro on the CRT machine was even better than Bradl's, passing Marquez and threatening second-placed Rossi in the opening couple of laps before a misjudgement on lap 3 allowed Marquez, Bautista and Crutchlow through.
By lap 6, Marquez had passed Bradl for the race lead, with Rossi passing the German for second three laps later. Bradl also fell prey to Crutchlow, while Espargaro's early form evaporated, with the Spaniard settling into eighth place midway through the 30-lap race.
Just past mid-race distance, Crutchlow made his move on Rossi, passing the Italian for second, but the gritty Brit had almost 3 seconds to make up on Marquez, who was riding a near flawless race at the head of the field.
As the race progressed, Crutchlow did make up ground on Marquez, to be around 1.5 seconds in arrears in the closing laps, while Rossi dropped further and further back. With Bradl losing pace as well, Rossi's podium place wasn't under threat, so he didn't risk losing his tyres to keep pace with the leading pair.
Further back, the field was even more strung out, and positions were largely unchanged for the second half of the race after Dovizioso passed Espargaro for seventh place on lap 13.
At the chequered flag, Marquez's winning margin was 1.559 seconds over Crutchlow, with Rossi a distant third, 9.62 seconds back. Bradl, equalling his best result so far, finished fourth, followed by Bautista. Smith, Dovizioso, Espargaro, Hayden and Michele Pirro (Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati) completed the top ten.
A horror weekend for Staring, marked by multiple crashes through practise and qualifying, got worse when the Aussie crashed again whilst in second-last place, with three laps to go. PBM's Yonny Hernandez also crashed.
Marquez now leads the championship with 138 points. Despite not racing at Sachsenring, both Pedrosa and Lorenzo are still well within striking distance, on 136 and 127 points respectively. Rossi's back-to-back podiums have given him a healthy 101 points after eight rounds, close behind Crutchlow on 107 points.
The next round of the 2013 MotoGP championship is the Red Bull US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca on Sunday, July 21.
Images: motogp.com
