MotoGP 2013 - Round 10 - Indianapolis

Qualifying
From the first day practice sessions, Marquez was strong, leading a Repsol 1-2 with Dani Pedrosa for the initial sessions, followed by LCR Honda MotoGP's Stefan Bradl. This continued into day 2, where Marquez claimed pole position with a time of 1'37.958, with Pedrosa third quickest, the Repsol dominance split by Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorge Lorenzo, who posted a 1'38.471 best qualifying lap to take the second place on the front row.

Second row of the grid was made up of Cal Crutchlow (Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha), Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team). Despite his early pace, Bradl eventually qualified eighth behind Bradley Smith (Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha), while Valentino Rossi qualified ninth. Australia's Bryan Staring (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini CRT) qualified on the seventh row of the grid in 20th place.

The wretched season for Ben Spies (Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati) continued at Indianapolis. In his first appearance since round 2 in Austin, Spies showed cautious pace in the early practice sessions, good enough for 13th on day one. On day 2's third free practise session, Spies highsided on the exit of Turn 4 and dislocated his left shoulder. This ruled the American out for his long-awaited race return, with the severity of the separation expected to see him miss the next round at Brno also.

Race
In dry, hot conditions, the 27-lap race on the tight and twisty Indianapolis circuit got underway with a poor start, once again, from polesitter Marquez. This allowed Lorenzo and Pedrosa through, both seemingly recovered from their collarbone injuries, at least at this stage. American wildcard for this round, Blake Young, crashed out on the opening lap.

After the field settled on lap 3, there was little movement until lap 9, when Marquez made a pass on Pedrosa, then proceeded to take off after Lorenzo. The Yamaha rider's best wasn't enough to hold off the unstoppable Marquez, who eventually passed the defending champion on lap 13. Crutchlow regained fourth place from Bautista two laps later, while further back, Rossi was sandwiched between Bradl and Dovizioso.

A few laps later, at the head of the field, Marquez began to pull away from Lorenzo, aided by a minor mistake from the latter on lap 21. In the closing laps, the fatigue of both Lorenzo and Pedrosa's injuries began to show, as they were unable to match the pace of Marquez at the front.

Three laps from the finish, Pedrosa passed Lorenzo, and was able to hold off the Yamaha rider to the finish, but couldn't reel in his team mate. Marquez's winning margin was 3.495 seconds from Pedrosa, while Lorenzo completed the podium.

A late charge from Rossi saw him steal fourth from Crutchlow, with Bautista finishing sixth ahead of Bradl. Hayden, determined to do well in front of a home crowd, made a last lap, last corner dive on Dovizioso that pushed both riders wide and saw them jump the kerbing. Smith was the beneficiary, able to pass both to claim eighth, but Hayden still finished ahead of Dovizioso in ninth and tenth, respectively. This was a near repeat of a final-corner incident at Assen from which Smith also benefitted.

Staring finished last, one lap down. In addition to Young, there were three mechanical retirees, all CRT bikes: de Puniet; Pesek; and Hernandez.

With ten rounds completed, Marquez still leads the championship, his lead now 21 points over Pedrosa, 188 to 167. Lorenzo still holds down third on 153 points, ahead of Rossi (130) and Crutchlow (127). Completing the championship top ten is Bradl (93), Dovizioso (87), Bautista (81), Hayden (72) and Smith (59).

Round 11 of the championship, the bwin Grand Prix eské republiky at Brno, is on August 25.

Images: motogp.com