Jorge Lorenzo raced to his second win of 2013 at Mugello. Image: MotoGP.com.

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo has re-ignited his MotoGP championship charge with a resounding win at Mugello in Italy as a number of top contenders fell by the wayside.

After being beaten to an almost-certain pole by title rival Dani Pedrosa, Lorenzo wasn’t about to let the Honda rider capitalise and pounced the moment the Honda man made a mistake.

As Pedrosa drifted wide through an early sequence of turns Lorenzo fired his YZR-M1 up the inside in a clean yet assertive overtake.

While Lorenzo powered ahead, he was unaware of the drama unfolding just a few positions behind as his teammate Valentino Rossi and GO&FUN Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista came together.

The pair made heavy contact on just the third corner of the race, with replays indicating Bautista was unsighted on the change of direction and hadn’t realised Rossi was alongside him.

Bikes and riders travelled the short distance to a tyre barrier before being bounced off at high-speed, coming to rest shaken but fortunately unhurt in the gravel trap.

Following the incident the race continued in a more orderly fashion, with Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Marc Marquez matching pace in a fight for the top step of the podium.

The trio were locked together for the first half of the 23-lap race, with the gap between Lorenzo and Pedrosa under the one-second mark until lap 13.

While the Yamaha seemed smooth and relatively steady on its tyre set the focus soon switched to the factory Honda teammates, with Marquez edging ever closer despite carrying a number of minor injuries from the previous days.

Track temperatures and pace glowed white hot, and the rookie, who had been biding his time, made a decisive dive on lap 18 after riding beneath his elder teammate’s ducktail for much of the race.

Marquez’ brilliant overtake would almost immediately be overshadowed by his fourth and most costly crash of the weekend. He came unstuck on Savelli corner, the same place he had passed his teammate two laps earlier, and was unable to continue as his bike was sent tumbling through the gravel trap.

The rookie’s retirement – the first of his MotoGP career – benefited Tech3 Yamaha man Cal Crutchlow who had thus far put in a solid performance to sit fourth for the majority of the race.

Cal Crutchlow was elevated to a podium place and took the chequered flag just one second shy of Pedrosa to record his second podium in as many starts.

Lorenzo, victor by 5.4 seconds, was ecstatic with the victory which sees him climb back to second in the race for the 2013 world championship.

“The conditions and the circumstances were good for us and I didn’t make a mistake,” said Lorenzo. “I made my best performance even if the conditions were much hotter than this morning. We are still struggling so much when the conditions get hotter.

“Anyway the key of the race was in the middle where I improved my riding, I was able to brake later with less fuel in the tank so I was able to improve the lap time by two tenths, from this moment Dani gave up a little pace and I could get away and win the race, more or less like last year.”

Pedrosa said he was happy to take second place from the weekend and to keep his nose ahead of Lorenzo on the standings.

“I didn’t feel fully comfortable in the race today, but I’m happy because I was able to gain a large number of points,” said Pedrosa. “In general, this was a difficult weekend.

“The back tyre was giving me a lot of problems with grip but taking 20 points from this race and maintaining the lead the world championship is something positive.”

LCR Honda satellite rider Stefan Bradl scored his best result of the season, finishing fourth after holding out Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso in a battle that went right to the finish line.

Dovizioso headed home a trio of Ducati machines, with Nicky Hayden sixth and Michele Pirro seventh.

Aleix Espargaro put in a sensational ride aboard his Power Electronics Aspar machine to finish eighth, and the top Claiming Rules Team (CRT) rider.

Tech3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith was solid in ninth after a significant crash slowed his progress earlier in the weekend, while the Avintia Blunsens CRT bike of Hector Barbera rounded out the top ten.

Australia’s Bryan Staring recorded a solid 18th place finish in his fifth MotoGP outing of the 2013 season.

The Moto2 weekend in Mugello belonged to championship points leader Scott Redding, with the Marc VDS man recording back-to-back wins.

The Mapfre Aspar machine of Nico Terol was second, challenging Redding for much of the race before dropping back slightly as the Briton’s pace became too much to match.

The Came Iodaracing Project entry of Johann Zarco rounded out the podium, with title frontrunner Pol Espargaro fourth after completing a successful damage limitation mission after qualifying on the fourth row of the grid.

Promising Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami led the first four laps of the race before handling issues saw him gradually slip back. His race came to a tumultuous end as he crashed out for the second grands prix in a row.

Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio rounded out the top five, with Jordi Torres, Simone Corsi, Alex de Angelis, Thom Luthi and Dominique Aegerter filling positions six through ten.

Ant West had a difficult race but did make up ground on his qualifying effort; the Australian rider made up three places to finish the Italian Grand Prix in 20th place.

The Moto3 race was a typical nail-biting affair, with Red Bull KTM Ajo Motorsport’s Luis Salom winning by 0.099 seconds over Alex Rins.

Maverick Vinales was third, staving off a battle pack that included Miguel Oliveira, Alex Marquez and Jonas Folger. Positions one through six were decided by just 1.433 seconds.

Niccolo Antonelli was a distant seventh followed by Niklas Ajo, Eric Granado and Australia’s Jack Miller.

Arthur Sissis recovered from a lacklustre grid position to finish 18th but ultimately out of the points once more.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round Five – Mugello, Italy
MotoGP Race Top 10:
1. Jorge Lorenzo
2. Dani Pedrosa
3. Cal Crutchlow
4. Stefan Bradl
5. Andrea Dovizioso
6. Nicky Hayden
7. Michele Pirro
8. Aleix Espargaro
9. Bradley Smith
10. Hector Barbera
18. Bryan Staring (Aus)

Moto2 Race Top 10:
1. Scott Redding
2. Nico Terol
3. Johann Zarco
4. Pol Espargaro
5. Mika Kallio
6. Jordi Torres
7. Simone Corsi
8. Alex de Angelis
9. Thomas Luthi
10. Dominique Aegerter
20. Anthony West (Aus)

Moto3 Race Top 10:
1. Luis Salom
2. Alex Rins
3. Maverick Vinales
4. Miguel Oliveira
5. Alex Marquez
6. Jonas Folger
7. Niccolo Antonelli
8. Niklas Ajo
9. Eric Granado
10. Jack Miller
18. Arthur Sissis (Aus)

Click here for detailed results