Jorge Lorenzo celebrates his second victory in succession. Image: MotoGP.com.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo turned in a typically dominant performance to take his second consecutive MotoGP victory at Misano in Italy.

The Spanish rider made a lightning start to the race and swept his YZR-M1 into the lead into the first corner, trailed closely by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez.

Lorenzo, who was racing with the new seamless transition gearbox for the first time, immediately began to stretch his legs and within just a few laps had eked out a gap of over a second.

Behind him the Honda riders scrapped for track position, with the second Yamaha of Valentino Rossi also in the mix and keeping a close watching brief.

A dive by Marquez on Pedrosa resulted in a near-miss, forcing the rookie rider wide of the line and allowing Rossi up to third.

Marquez appeared to back out of the battle momentarily before re-passing Rossi for third and ranging back up on his teammate with some urgency.

The Hondas swapped places but Pedrosa held his mettle and was able to position himself for a pass back on his younger teammate, which Marquez immediately countered.

The pairing held station to the wave of the chequered flag, with the in-fight allowing Lorenzo to streak to a comfortable victory, his sixth in a row at an Italian circuit.

Rossi again lacked the firepower of the podium-placers, and was fourth for a fourth consecutive race.

Fifth went the way of Stefan Bradl, with the LCR Honda MotoGP man making a pass on Monster Tech3’s Cal Crutchlow in the race’s closing stages.

GO&FUN Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista was seventh at the team’s home event, with the factory Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden following, and the Ignite Pramac Ducati of Michele Pirro placing 10th.

NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards took the top CRT spot in 12th place, holding out a storming Aleix Espargaro who had earlier toured the pit lane due to a jump start.

Electrical problems on Bryan Staring’s Gresini Honda CRT dropped him out of the running, and he was not classified after falling four laps off the lead.

Tuenti HP 40’s Pol Espagaro timed his charge to perfection to win the Moto2 class race and deny ItalTrans Racing’s Takaaki Nakagami his first grand prix victory.

Espargaro started from pole position but Nakagami moved by on the fourth lap, and began to build a gap over his pursuers.

The advantage was whittled away by Espargaro who pounced on Nakagami with two laps remaining to secure the win. The second Tuenti HP 40 of Esteve Rabat rounded out the podium in third.

Fourth place went to Tom Luthi, with Dominique Aegerter completing the top five.

Championship leader, Marc VDS Racing’s Scott Redding could only manage sixth place, which sees his points advantage reduced to just 23.

It was a resurgent showing for Aussie Anthony West, who finished the race in 11th place aboard the QMMF Racing Team machine, collecting strong points.

Unfortunately countryman Jason O’Halloran was unable to make it to the finish, recording a DNF in his second GP with JiR Moto2.

Moto3 victory went the way of Estrella Galicia’s Alex Rins who won out in a two-way fight with Team Calvo’s Maverick Vinales.

Jonas Folger had been in the fight for the lead but suffered a huge high-side crash on the fourth lap, leaving Rins and Vinales to break free.

The KTMs went blow for blow across the final stages, with the decisive pass coming on turn 13 of the final lap, handing Rins the win by 0.050 seconds.

Alex Marquez rounded out the podium on the second Estrella Galicia machine, with Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Luis Salom fourth and Aussie Jack Miller fighting through to a sensational fifth.

Arthur Sissis found himself at the tail end of a six-rider battle as the race wrapped up, and was only able to secure one point for an eventual 15th place finish.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round 13 – Misano, Italy

MotoGP race:
1. Jorge LORENZO
2. Marc MARQUEZ +3.379
3. Dani PEDROSA +7.368
4. Valentino ROSSI +15.062
5. Stefan BRADL +22.355
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW +22.599
7. Alvaro BAUTISTA +31.059
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO +42.702
9. Nicky HAYDEN USA +44.858
10. Michele PIRRO +47.818
11. Bradley SMITH +48.011
12. Colin EDWARDS +1m03.154
13. Aleix ESPARGARO +1m07.600
14. Hiroshi AOYAMA +1m15.528
15. Danilo PETRUCCI +1m17.907
16. Claudio CORTI +1m29.655
17. Randy DE PUNIET +1m33.990
18. Michael LAVERTY +1m36.860
DNF. Bryan STARING (AUS) 4 Laps

MotoGP championship standings (after 13 of 18 rounds):
1. Marc MARQUEZ 253
2. Jorge LORENZO 219
3. Dani PEDROSA 219
4. Valentino ROSSI 169
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW 146
6. Stefan BRADL 124
7. Alvaro BAUTISTA 112
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 104
9. Nicky HAYDEN 95
10. Bradley SMITH 71
11. Aleix ESPARGARO 71
12. Michele PIRRO 50
13. Andrea IANNONE 41
14. Colin EDWARDS 31
15. Hector BARBERA 27
16. Danilo PETRUCCI 23
17. Randy DE PUNIET 20
18. Ben SPIES 9
19. Claudio CORTI 7
20. Yonny HERNANDEZ 7
25. Bryan STARING (AUS) 2

Moto2 race:
1. Pol ESPARGARO
2. Takaaki NAKAGAMI +0.621
3. Esteve RABAT +1.815
4. Thomas LUTHI +12.919
5. Dominique AEGERTER +14.925
6. Scott REDDING +15.123
7. Johann ZARCO +15.259
8. Xavier SIMEON +20.369
9. Mika KALLIO +20.615
10. Nicolas TEROL +24.635
11. Anthony WEST +28.649
12. Mattia PASINI +29.173
13. Julian SIMON +29.418
14. Marcel SCHROTTER +29.458
15. Alex DE ANGELIS +37.718
16. Jordi TORRES +39.314
17. Randy KRUMMENACHER +42.796
18. Axel PONS +42.938
19. Danny KENT +48.222
20. Louis ROSSI +51.304
DNF. Jason O’Halloran (AUS)

Moto2 championship standings (after 12 of 17 rounds):
1. Scott REDDING 202
2. Pol ESPARGARO 179
3. Esteve RABAT 151
4. Mika KALLIO 132
5. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 125
6. Dominique AEGERTER 119
7. Johann ZARCO 104
8. Thomas LUTHI 94
9. Nicolas TEROL 83
10. Simone CORSI 74
11. Jordi TORRES 73
12. Xavier SIMEON 71
13. Julian SIMON 49
14. Alex DE ANGELIS 46
15. Anthony WEST 39
16. Mattia PASINI 35
17. Marcel SCHROTTER 24
18. Toni ELIAS 21
19. Randy KRUMMENACHER 20
20. Mike DI MEGLIO 18

Moto3 race:
1. Alex RINS
2. Maverick VIÑALES +0.050
3. Alex MARQUEZ +6.434
4. Luis SALOM +17.297
5. Jack MILLER +18.011
6. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN +18.133
7. Miguel OLIVEIRA +18.456
8. Niccolò ANTONELLI +18.604
9. Philipp OETTL +24.892
10. Romano FENATI +25.113
11. Niklas AJO +27.619
12. Efren VAZQUEZ +27.634
13. Jakub KORNFEIL +27.683
14. Isaac VIÑALES +27.834
15. Arthur SISSIS +27.899
16. Alessandro TONUCCI +36.083
17. Alan TECHER +36.114
18. Brad BINDER +36.506
19. Ana CARRASCO +46.502
20. John MCPHEE +50.025

Moto3 championship standings (after 12 of 17 rounds):
1. Luis SALOM 246
2. Maverick VIÑALES 227
3. Alex RINS 225
4. Alex MARQUEZ 133
5. Jonas FOLGER 120
6. Miguel OLIVEIRA 104
7. Jack MILLER 76
8. Alexis MASBOU 64
9. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 60
10. Jakub KORNFEIL 56
11. Efren VAZQUEZ 56
12. Arthur SISSIS 52
13. Brad BINDER 46
14. Niklas AJO 43
15. Romano FENATI 40
16. Isaac VIÑALES 33
17. Niccolò ANTONELLI 30
18. John MCPHEE 15
19. Danny WEBB 15
20. Philipp OETTL 8

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