Spain invades San Marino: Lorenzo wins MotoGP race

Attendees to the 2013 GP Aperol di San Marino e Riviera di Rimini could be forgiven for thinking they were in Catalunya or in Aragon. The Spanish national anthem was played all day Sunday.

During the Moto3, Spaniard Alex Rins took the checkered flag ahead of Maverick Vinales and Alex Marquez (brother of Marc). While in Moto2, Pol Espargaro won ahead of Japanese Takaagi Nakagami, and fellow Spaniard Esteve Rabat.

But the biggest win of the day came not from a rider on a Repsol Honda but from a rider on a Yamaha. Starting second on the grid, Jorge Lorenzo bolted out at the start to take the lead, and Dani Pedrosa dived into turn 1 ahead of Marc Marquez. Meanwhile, Aleix Espargaro had a fantastic start, but upon investigation jumped the gun and was given a ride-through penalty, eventually ruining his entire race. Hometown favorite Valentino Rossi, starting third, dropped back to fifth place after the first corner; he was edged out by both Espargaro and Carl Cructhlow on his Tech 3 Monster Yamaha. But Rossi kept the pressure on Espargaro and took fourth mid-way on the first lap.

Marquez was visibly struggling, but kept hounding Pedrosa and never letting him out of his sight. But on lap 4,  Marc ran wide, which gave Rossi a window to move up to third to the delight of the Italian fans. It was now the turn of Rossi to be hunted down by the 20 year old, Marquez setting fast laps one after the other.  Finally, on Lap 12, he re-took third from Rossi, and then set his sights on the second place of Dani Pedrosa.

On lap 16, Marquez got behind Pedrosa and took the inside line into turn 2 to claim second. The Repsol Hondas were equally matched, and with each rider not wanting to be beaten by his team mate, they fought side by side. A slight wobble by Marquez on lap 21 gave Pedrosa an opening into turn 10 to overtake Marquez. But Marquez, taking a page out of the racing book of Valentino, quickly overtook Pedrosa again at turn 14 of the same lap.

While all of this was going on behind him, Jorge Lorenzo just hunkered down and kept on riding away with the race. He never lost his concentration, and proved again why he is a two-time world champion.

Lorenzo was never challenged for the lead, and, took the checkered flag 3.379 seconds ahead of his rivals. Lorenzo, by virtue of having more wins than Pedrosa, is now on second place in the standings, 34 points adrift of Marquez. Pedrosa is in third with the same number of points as Lorenzo. Lorenzo now has won the last three races at Misono and has taken his sixth successive Italian GP win

MotoGP now moves to Spain for the Gran Premio Iveco de Aragon in two weeks time. Lorenzo needs to win all of the remaing five races and hope for Marquez to falter in one or more races to have a chance of taking his third World Championship. Marquez will still be the favorite to win the Spanish GP. The Repsol Honda is known for its handling in tight corners, and could very well prove the difference needed by Marquez to solidify his hold on the learderboard. But with the new seamless tranmission on his Yamaha, Lorenzo might not be willing to give up his crown just yet.

There is still a lot to play for in the final five races. But what we can be sure of is: a Spaniard will still remain the championship leader and eventually win the 2013 championship. Will it be the elder statesman Dani Pedrosa, current champion Jorge Lorenzo or the young gun, Marc Marquez? Your guess is as good as mine!