Dani Pedrosa Win Malaysian GP

Dani Pedrosa has won the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle GP, collecting his third victory of the 2013 MotoGP™ season. Marc Marquez completed a Repsol Honda Team one-two after a nail-biting battle with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, as the reigning World Champion rounded out the podium.

With four races to go in 2013, Sepang marked the first event of a triple-header which next weekend takes the MotoGP™ fraternity to Australia, before racing in Japan on the final weekend of the month. Saturday saw Marquez storm to a fourth consecutive pole position as the newcomer attempted to edge ever closer to an historic title win.

Pedrosa’s victory came as his first for almost five months, having not stood atop the podium since Le Mans in mid-May. He narrowly missed out on taking the lead as Lorenzo swept through at the start, but overhauled the Mallorcan at the end of the first lap. As Lorenzo became involved in an intense battle with Marquez, who finally made the move stick at Turn 14 with just over 11 laps to go, Pedrosa extended his advantage to pick up a second successive victory on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

The result means all three of the rostrum finishers retain mathematical possibilities of clinching the World Championship, although Marquez is the only rider who could claim the title at Phillip Island next weekend. Should he do so, the 20-year-old Catalan would become the first rookie premier class title winner for 35 years.

Outside of the top three at Sepang, multiple winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing) experienced a somewhat lonely ride to fourth spot as Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) came out on top in a battle with Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech3); the Spaniard now moves up to sixth place in the Riders’ Championship, ahead of LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl who was forced to miss the race because of a broken ankle. Tech3’s Bradley Smith and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso were seventh and eighth, ahead of lead CRT runner Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar) and Yonny Hernandez (Ignite Pramac Racing).

In 15th spot, NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards clinched the final point after he, Avintia Blusens’ Hector Barbera and PBM’s Michael Laverty were handed ride-through penalties for jumping the start. A total of five riders failed to finish, including 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden who parked his Ducati Team machine on the start/finish straight after suffering technical problems.

Round 16 of 18, the Tissot Australian Grand Prix, will take place next weekend as Marc Marquez attempts to become the youngest ever MotoGP™ World Champion.

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@MarcMarquez93 Pole on Malaysian GP

Marc Marquez will start from a fourth consecutive MotoGP™ pole position for the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix. Multiple Sepang winner Valentino Rossi lines up second from Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, with title contenders Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa on the second row of the grid.

Having crashed out in dramatic fashion at MotorLand Aragón, it was Pedrosa who topped the first three practice sessions at the Sepang International Circuit. However, when it came to qualifying the 2012 race winner was unable to muster anything other than fifth place, six tenths of a second down on Marquez’s 2’00.011 pole which establishes a new qualifying record for the venue. This marks Marquez’s eighth pole of 2013, his fourth in succession and fifth from the latest six race events.

In a repeat of the German GP front row, albeit with the second and third-placed riders reversed, Rossi and Crutchlow will start second and third for their respective Yamaha Factory Racing and Monster Yamaha Tech3 outfits. In the case of the nine-time champion, he provisionally held pole position after enjoying a slipstream from Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso down the back straight, whereas Crutchlow celebrates a first front row start since his home race at Silverstone last month.

Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing), who won his first MotoGP™ title at Sepang in 2010, will start fourth after missing out on pole by half a second. Behind the reigning World Champion, Marquez’s teammate Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) misses the front row despite his rapid pace throughout practice, while the championship contenders will be accompanied on Row 2 by Alvaro Bautista; incidentally, the GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider will rise to sixth in the riders’ standings if he finishes fifth or higher in the race, as LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl was put out of action after suffering a right ankle fracture through a crash in final practice.

Row 3 will consist of Tech3’s Bradley Smith, equaling his second best MotoGP™ qualifying position of seventh from the aforementioned Dovizioso and lead CRT runner Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar), who passed through to the final shootout from Q1. Andrea Iannone rounds out the top ten for Energy T.I. Pramac Racing from Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, whereas the absent Bradl was classified 12th but is now set to undergo surgery. This promotes NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards to a fourth row position, with the grid completed by Damian Cudlin who contrary to initial plans races again with PBM this weekend.

Heading into Sunday’s race, which begins at 4pm local time (GMT +8) and with rain expected by many, Marquez heads Lorenzo in the standings by 39 points. Pedrosa is third overall and 59 points off the lead, meaning he will be mathematically ruled out of title contention if Marquez wins and Pedrosa fails to score points in Sunday's 15th round of the campaign.

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First Pole For Mark Webber Japanese GP 2013

Mark Webber took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix as he beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel at Suzuka.

With Vettel struggling with a KERS issue at the start of Q3, Webber took full advantage to go over 0.3s quicker than his team-mate and set the provisional pole time. On the second runs Vettel was still unable to beat Webber's time and his team-mate then improved again to consolidate pole position.

Lewis Hamilton was last over the line but could only put his Mercedes third on the grid alongside Romain Grosjean, with Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg making up row three.

It was another disappointing Saturday for both Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, with Nico Hulkenberg in seventh place outqualifying them both. Alonso starts from eighth and can't lose any more ground in the race - if Vettel were to win - in order to keep the championship alive.

The two Red Bulls set a blistering pace on their only runs in Q2, with Vettel 0.2s clear of Webber. With everyone else then going out for another run at the end of the session the times bunched up and just half a second covered Webber down to 15th place. Ultimately a late lap from Massa took him through and knocked out Sergio Perez. Paul di Resta also just missed out, and while Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado did too it was the first time both Williams cars had been in Q2 since Hungary.

Q1 was briefly red-flagged with three minutes remaining as Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso caught fire. The rear brakes had overheated on his car and he pulled over with both brakes alight, with the session stopped due to the smoke billowing across the track as marshals tried to put the fire out.

That led to a mad dash at the end of the first part of qualifying with only Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel and Jenson Button not taking to the track. With Vergne having been in 16th place before his problem, he dropped out along with Adrian Sutil - who receives a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after his FP3 crash.

There was a good performance from Max Chilton as he outqualified both his team-mate Jules Bianchi and the Caterhams. While Bianchi and Charles Pic came in to the session with 10-place grid penalties hanging over them, to be comfortably clear of both Caterhams was impressive and Chilton told Sky Sports afterwards that he was "chuffed" with what he described as "a mega lap".

        Driver                 Teams Time
1 M Webber (AUS) Red Bull 1'30.915
2 S Vettel (GER)         Red Bull 1'31.089
3 LC Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes 1'31.253
4 R Grosjean (FRA) Lotus 1'31.365
5 F Massa (BRA) Ferrari 1'31.378
6 N Rosberg (GER) Mercedes 1'31.397
7 N Hülkenberg (GER)Sauber 1'31.644
8 F Alonso (ESP) Ferrari 1'31.665
9 KM Räikkönen (FIN)Lotus 1'31.684
10 J Button (GBR)  McLaren 1'31.827
11 S Perez (MEX)         McLaren 1'31.989
12 P di Resta (GBR) Force India 1'31.992
13 V Bottas (FIN)         Williams 1'32.013
14 E Gutiérrez (MEX) Sauber 1'32.063
15 P Maldonado (VEN)Williams 1'32.093
16 D Ricciardo (AUS) Toro Rosso 1'32.485
17 A Sutil (GER)         Force India 1'32.890
18 JE Vergne (FRA) Toro Rosso 1'33.357
19 M Chilton (GBR) Marussia 1'34.320
20 C Pic (FRA)         Caterham 1'34.556
21 G van der Garde (NED)Caterham 1'34.879
22 J Bianchi (FRA) Marussia 1'34.958

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