Marc Marquez has made more MotoGP™ history, winning Sunday¢s bwin Grand Prix České republiky to become the first rookie ever to claim five victories in his maiden season. On this occasion, the Repsol Honda Team rider came out on top after an immensely close fight with teammate Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing¢s Jorge Lorenzo. Following the morning Warm-Up that took place amid distinctly overcast conditions, riders feared for a wet Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. Although spots of rain did briefly fall, prompting the white flags to fly on Lap 14, there proved to be no major changes in the weather. On the front row of the grid, Monster Yamaha Tech3¢s Cal Crutchlow started from pole position for the second time this season, but would unfortunately crash out of the race. 


Marquez¢s ride was a mixture of patience, aggression and defence, with the Spaniard running second behind Lorenzo as the reigning World Champion scorched off the start line. The pair would proceed to swap places on various occasions, with the final pass coming at Turn 3 with just under four laps to go. 


Pedrosa also dispatched of Lorenzo, but two final tours was not enough for last year¢s winner to hunt down his teammate who won by three tenths of a second. In fourth place, Lorenzo¢s teammate Valentino Rossi ultimately came out on top after a race-long duel with GO&FUN Honda Gresini¢s Alvaro Bautista. Its strange to watch Rossi on a competent bike having battles with riders like Bautista. After all, the Yamaha M1 is better than  Ducati.  

LCR Honda MotoGP¢s Stefan Bradl experienced a quiet ride to sixth spot from Ducati Team duo Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, locked together once again. The top ten was completed by Energy T.I. Pramac Racing¢s Andrea Iannone and Power Electronics Aspar¢s Aleix Espargaro, just one second ahead of CRT rival Colin Edwards (NGM Mobile Forward Racing) who had started in front of him. There was also frustration for pole man Crutchlow, who crashed out of fourth place on Lap 8 as he looked to hunt down the leading trio, as well as for Czech Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) who was unable to score points at home. Wildcard Martin Bauer (Remus Racing Team) succeeded in completing the distance. 
The final race in the on-going triple-header will be the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone, to which Marquez heads with 213 points, 26 - and more than the equivalent of one race win - ahead of Pedrosa and 44 in front of Lorenzo. 

bwin GRAND PRIX CESKÉ REPUBLIKY 
MotoGP Race Classification 2013  Brno, 
Sunday, August 25, 2013 
Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time/Gap 
1 25 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 166.4 42'50.729 
2 20 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 166.4 +0.313 
3 16 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 166.3 +2.277 
4 13 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 165.8 +10.101 
5 11 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 165.8 +10.178 
6 10 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 165.1 +19.807 
7 9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 164.2 +35.015 
8 8 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 164.1 +35.354 
9 7 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 163.2 +51.149 
10 6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 162.8 +56.392


 
 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



2013/8/24

Crutchlow collects 2nd MotoGP pole with record lap


 

Cal Crutchlow has stormed to his second MotoGP pole position for the bwin Grand Prix České republiky. The Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider will start alongside GO&FUN Honda Gresini¢s Alvaro Bautista and Repsol Honda Team¢s Marc Marquez, while Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo round out the top five. Following Friday¢s opening pair of practice sessions, Crutchlow had been unhappy with the new fuel tank fitted to his bike, but appeared to rectify this by setting the pace in third free practice on Saturday morning. He would go on to claim his second MotoGP pole in five race weekends, following that of Assen at the end of June. 

However, a second career pole looked to be heading the way of Bautista after the Gresini rider intelligently picked up Marquez¢s slipstream to dip underneath Lorenzo¢s 2012 qualifying record. Following a stop in the pit lane, Crutchlow would go on to beat this by over two tenths of a second thanks to his rapid time of 1¢55.527. 

With Bautista on the front row for the second time in three races, championship leader - and winner of the last three Grands Prix - Marquez crucially starts ahead of his closest two title contenders, with teammate and last year¢s Brno winner Pedrosa only five thousandths of a second in arrears and Lorenzo a further 81 thousandths behind. 

The reigning World Champion expected more, though, not least after testing at Brno in the mid-season break as well as beginning the weekend as fastest rider. Tech3¢s Bradley Smith equalled his qualifying best by beating the second Yamaha Factory Racing rider Valentino Rossi to sixth place, as LCR Honda MotoGP¢s Stefan Bradl and Ducati Team duo Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden completed the first group of ten. 
Taking place after the Moto2™ race but before that of Moto3™, Sunday¢s MotoGP battle commences at 1pm local time (GMT +2).

bwin GRAND PRIX CESKÉ REPUBLIKY MotoGP 
Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification 2013 Brno, 
Saturday, August 24, 2013 
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev. 
1 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 307.1 1'55.527
2 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 311.7 1'55.754 0.227 / 0.227 
3 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 313.6 1'55.863 0.336 / 0.109 
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 314.8 1'55.868 0.341 / 0.005 
5 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 309.4 1'55.949 0.422 / 0.081 
6 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 308.8 1'56.014 0.487 / 0.065 
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 307.9 1'56.186 0.659 / 0.172 
8 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 312.4 1'56.477 0.950 / 0.291 
9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 307.0 1'56.825 1.298 / 0.348 
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 308.4 1'56.979 1.452 / 0.154


2013/8/23
Bradl blasts to top of timesheets in Brno day one
 
 Pos.   Rider  Bike  Nation  Points
 1  Marc MARQUEZ  Honda  SPA 188
 2  Dani  PEDROSA   Honda  SPA 167
 3  Jorge LORENZO  Yamaha  SPA 153
 4  Valentino ROSSI  Yamaha  ITA 130
 5  Cal CRUTCHLOW  Yamaha  GBR 127
 6  Stefan BRADL   Honda  GER  93
 7  Andrea DOVIZIOSO  Ducati   ITA  87
 8  Alvaro BAUTISTA  Honda  SPA  81
 9  Nicky HAYDEN  Ducati  USA  72
 10  Bradley SMITH  Yamaha  GBR  59




A late lap from Stefan Bradl saw the LCR Honda MotoGP rider demote Jorge Lorenzo to second place in Friday afternoon practice ahead of the bwin Grand Prix České republiky. Behind the reigning MotoGP™ World Champion, the top three was completed by last year¢s winner Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo was fastest in both practice sessions as the Brno weekend began, but only until Bradl delivered his final 1¢56.500 effort to snatch the top spot by three hundredths of a second. The German however said that keeping this pace over race distance could prove very tricky, and that him and the team need to work more on consistency. 



Pedrosa trailed Lorenzo by only a further six hundredths, following on from their dramatic last-lap battle at the circuit last year. Valentino Rossi was fourth on the second Yamaha Factory Racing machine, pushing championship leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) down to fifth ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith. Completing the top ten were Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Ducati Team partners Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, fresh from their final lap fight at Indianapolis.


bwin GRAND PRIX CESKÉ REPUBLIKY 

MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 2 Classification 2013 Brno, 
Friday, August 23, 2013 
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev. 
1 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 311.6 1'56.500
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 308.4 1'56.538 0.038 / 0.038 
3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 314.6 1'56.600 0.100 / 0.062 
4 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 309.4 1'56.726 0.226 / 0.126 
5 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 312.5 1'56.733 0.233 / 0.007 
6 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 308.0 1'56.800 0.300 / 0.067 
7 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 308.4 1'57.351 0.851 / 0.551 
8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 309.1 1'57.401 0.901 / 0.050 
9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 306.2 1'57.754 1.254 / 0.353 
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 308.3 1'57.896 1.396 / 0.142