Dani Pedrosa greets the chequered flag to claim victory at Sepang. Image: MotoGP.com.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa has claimed victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix, breaking back into the winner’s circle after close a six month absence.

Pedrosa last won a race at round four of the MotoGP World Championship in Le Mans, battling injury and a general lack of luck since as the fight for the top step was waged between his younger teammate Marc Marquez and Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.

But today belonged to Pedrosa, who broke away from a frenetic fight between the title protagonists to keep a clean pair of heels for a 2.757s win.

Starting from the fifth row, he made a lightning start and exchanged places out front with Lorenzo before Marquez factored at the front.

Another classic show of skill was displayed as Lorenzo and Marquez diced at high speed, exploiting the strengths of their respective machinery as they swapped places – and paint – on several occasions.

Once the decisive move was made, Marquez put his head down in pursuit of Pedrosa, but couldn’t reel in his teammate, settling for second.

Lorenzo’s early aggression, including his fierce defence, may have cost him in the latter stages leaving him without the grip to challenge. He finished an eventual third.

The second factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi was in the mix at the start but the Italian soon dropped away from the top three as he has done on so many occasions this season.

He faced some opposition from GO&FUN Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista but eventually moved forwards to a customary fourth place finish – his fifth in the past six grands prix.

Bautista showed speed but couldn’t match the rhythm of Rossi over race distance, taking fifth, while Monster Tech3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow couldn’t capitalise on a front row start, severely down on power and settling for an eventual sixth.

The second Tech3 Yamaha of Bradley Smith ran a lone race in seventh, some eight seconds away from his teammate but close to 15 seconds clear of the first Ducati home, Andrea Dovizioso.

Dovizioso, placing eighth, took some points from a challenging showing, unlike teammate Nicky Hayden who suffered a frustrating DNF as his factory machine came to a steaming halt on the front straight.

Aleix Esparagaro ran a consistent race for ninth, and first CRT, with Yonny Hernandez tenth on the Ignite Pramac Ducati.

Bryan Staring rounded out the finishers in 18th on his Honda CRT machine, while fellow Aussie Damian Cudlin was an unfortunate retiree from the race with a mechanical problem forcing him back to pit lane.

Esteve Rabat claimed victory in the Moto2 class, hauling himself further up into title contention with a 1.563s win over Tuenti HP 40 teammate Pol Espargaro.

It was a solid ride for Rabat, who, along with the rest of the field, faced a shortened 12-lap sprint after a significant crash at the start.

The stricken machine of Axel Pons spiralled across in front of the riders at the rear of the field, catching a host of the local wildcard entrants unaware.

Despite the dramatic nature of the crash which sent bikes skyward, all riders were confirmed to have escaped any serious injury prior to the race restart.

Third place went to Thom Luthi on the Interwetten Paddock Moto2 mount, with Mika Kallio coming home fourth on the Marc VDS machine, and Dominique Aegerter fifth on the Technomag carport bike.

The second Marc VDS machine of Scott Redding again struggled to make the necessary impact, with the Briton languishing in seventh and seeing his points lead whittled to single digits (nine).

Aussie Ant West put in a solid ride to collect points for 13th place, improving 10 places on his starting position.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Luis Salom registered the win in the Moto3 class, again picking the crucial time to make his move after a race that saw a number of different leaders.

He took the win by just 0.069s from Estrella Galicia’s Alex Rins, while Miguel Oliveira showed the strength of the Mahindra machine versus the dominant KTMs with a third place finish.

Alex Marquez ran fourth, with Maverick Vinales fifth. Australian Jack Miller was impressive in sixth, with countryman Arthur Sissis finishing the race where he started in 19th.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round 15 – Sepang, Malaysia

MotoGP race:
1. Dani PEDROSA
2. Marc MARQUEZ +2.757s
3. Jorge LORENZO +6.669s
4. Valentino ROSSI +10.351s
5. Alvaro BAUTISTA +22.149s
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW +22.301s
7. Bradley SMITH +30.864s
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO +45.111s
9. Aleix ESPARGARO +59.264s
10. Yonny HERNANDEZ +1m01.417
11. Hiroshi AOYAMA +1m03.665
12. Randy DE PUNIET +1m14.256
13. Claudio CORTI +1m21.603
14. Hector BARBERA +1m27.976
15. Colin EDWARDS +1m29.442
16. Danilo PETRUCCI +1m29.551
17. Luca SCASSA ITA +1m47.930
18. Bryan STARING +1m52.927
DNF. Damian Cudlin (AUS)

MotoGP championship standings (after round 15 of 18):
1. Marc MARQUEZ 298
2. Jorge LORENZO 255
3. Dani PEDROSA 244
4. Valentino ROSSI 198
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW 166
6. Alvaro BAUTISTA 136
7. Stefan BRADL 135
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 120
9. Nicky HAYDEN 102
10. Bradley SMITH 89
11. Aleix ESPARGARO 83
12. Michele PIRRO 50
13. Andrea IANNONE 47
14. Colin EDWARDS 32
15. Hector BARBERA 29
16. Randy DE PUNIET 27
17. Danilo PETRUCCI 23
18. Yonny HERNANDEZ 17
19. Hiroshi AOYAMA 13
20. Claudio CORTI 11
25 STARING Bryan (AUS) 2

Moto2 race:
1. Esteve RABAT
2. Pol ESPARGARO +1.563
3. Thomas LUTHI +2.910
4. Mika KALLIO +4.814
5. Dominique AEGERTER +7.352
6. Johann ZARCO +9.790
7. Scott REDDING +9.840
8. Takaaki NAKAGAMI +11.894
9. Jordi TORRES +12.302
10. Julian SIMON +15.524
11. Simone CORSI +16.190
12. Danny KENT +25.191
13. Anthony WEST +25.982
14. Ricard CARDUS +26.040
15. Marcel SCHROTTER +26.380
16. Hafizh SYAHRIN +29.369
17. Louis ROSSI +30.154
18. Gino REA +35.653
19. Nicolas TEROL +35.723
20. Alex MARIÑELARENA +36.012

Moto2 championship standings (after round 14 of 17):
1. Scott REDDING 224
2. Pol ESPARGARO 215
3. Esteve RABAT 196
4. Mika KALLIO 156
5. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 138
6. Dominique AEGERTER 133
7. Johann ZARCO 123
8. Thomas LUTHI 110
9. Nicolas TEROL 108
10. Jordi TORRES 90
11. Simone CORSI 79
12. Xavier SIMEON 71
13. Julian SIMON 63
14. Alex DE ANGELIS 46
15. Mattia PASINI 42
16. Anthony WEST 42
17. Marcel SCHROTTER 29
18. Toni ELIAS 21
19. Randy KRUMMENACHER 20
20. Mike DI MEGLIO 18

Moto3 race:
1. Luis SALOM
2. Alex RINS +0.069
3. Miguel OLIVEIRA +0.408
4. Alex MARQUEZ +0.782
5. Maverick VIÑALES +1.055
6. Jack MILLER +1.077
7. Alexis MASBOU +5.016
8. Jonas FOLGER +6.277
9. Romano FENATI +6.952
10. Philipp OETTL +10.962
11. Brad BINDER +11.096
12. Niklas AJO +21.012
13. Jakub KORNFEIL +29.443
14. Isaac VIÑALES +31.541
15. Ana CARRASCO +31.579
16. Francesco BAGNAIA +31.695
17. John MCPHEE +32.058
18. Livio LOI +32.469
19. Arthur SISSIS +34.809
20. Luca AMATO +35.240

Moto3 championship standings (after round 14 of 17):
1. Luis SALOM 284
2. Alex RINS 270
3. Maverick VIÑALES 258
4. Alex MARQUEZ 162
5. Jonas FOLGER 137
6. Miguel OLIVEIRA 131
7. Jack MILLER 89
8. Alexis MASBOU 78
9. Efren VAZQUEZ 62
10. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 60
11. Jakub KORNFEIL 59
12. Arthur SISSIS 59
13. Brad BINDER 55
14. Romano FENATI 55
15. Niklas AJO 47
16. Isaac VIÑALES 35
17. Niccolò ANTONELLI 32
18. Philipp OETTL 24
19. John MCPHEE 15
20. Danny WEBB 15

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