On a race weekend at the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang that saw all three classes affected by the elements in one way or another it was Moto3 rider Sandro Cortese who stole the headlines by grabbing his maiden Grand Prix title.
Works Honda rider Dani Pedrosa put up a masterful display in a premier-class race hit by torrential rain and a raft of crashes to take the win ahead of championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and Honda's defending champion Casey Stoner, and bring his title aspirations firmly within reach.
MOTOGP
Lorenzo got the holeshot ahead of Pedrosa, while Ducati’s Valentino Rossi got a good start from 11th to move up fourth within the first lap. Yamaha Tech 3 rider Andrea Dovizioso, who had a bad start, was carving his way through the pack and soon got past Rossi into fourth to chase down Stoner in third.
Lorenzo had opted for the softer option wet rear tyre which gave him a slight advantage in the early stages over Pedrosa, who had the harder rear tyre. All the Yamaha riders on the grid as well as privateer Karel Abraham (Ducati) had opted for the soft-rear, hard-front combination, with the others running the harder tyres front and rear.
By lap four, however, Pedrosa had closed right up to Lorenzo and was looking for a way past.
About five seconds further back Stoner was (just) leading a seven fight for third group from Dovizioso, Rossi, Honda privateer Stefan Bradl, Nicky Hayden on the second works Ducati, Álvaro Bautista o n a privateer Honda and Cal Crutchlow on the second satellite Yamaha.
On lap eight Lorenzo's team mate Ben Spies crashed heavily out of 10th; he was taken to the medical centre to check on a shoulder injury, but was later declared OK.
On lap nine Rossi got it all wrong and dropped back from behind Dovizioso to ninth, while his team mate Hayden made up two places to fifth.
A lap later, with the rain beginning to come down even harder, Dovizioso slid off, but managed to keep the Yamaha running, and rejoined the race at the back of the field.
It was on the last turn of this lap, however, that Pedrosa made a move on Lorenzo to take the lead, and immediately looked more comfortable in front, pulling a small gap.
By now the rain was torrential; Crutchlow went down in the final corner of lap 11, quickly followed by ART rider Randy de Puniet and Ivan Silva's BQR. A lap later Bradl also lost the front of his satellite Honda, and his race was run.
Rossi, however, squeezed past Bautista into fifth, while the race at the front suddenly came alive as Lorenzo lost touch with Pedrosa and came under threat from Stoner.
Lorenzo was lucky to save a very scary near-crash on lap 13; by now the race had become nothing more than an exercise in survival and, to Lorenzo's relief, the red flags came put at the end of lap 13.
The race director waited half an hour to see if the rain would let up, but it just got heavier, so the race was scored as at the end of lap 13, with Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Stoner awarded the podium positions, ahead of the Ducatis of Hayden and Rossi.
That narrowed Lorenzo's championship lead to 23 points, 330 to 307, with two races, each worth 25 points, still to go. Dovisioso, who'd crashed on lap 10, battled round, stone last, on the damaged Yamaha, but his efforts were rewarded with three vital points, keeping him in touch with Stoner, 213 to 195, and in with a shout of taking third in the championship.
MOTO2
A torrential downpour just before the start delayed the Moto2 race by half an hour; the circuit was still streaming wet when the race got underway and Kalex rider Takaaki Nakagami, who got the hole shot off the line, promptly slid out of the lead in Turn 1.
A few corners Johann Zarco (Motobi) and Xavier Siméon (Tech) took each other out, also causing Mika Kallio (Kalex) to run off circuit.
When the spray settled Julián Simón (Suter), veteran Alex De Angelis (FTR) and British teenager Gino Rea, also Suter-mounted, were leading the pack.
Nakagami had remounted and was fighting his way back through the pack when he collided with Eric Granado's Motobi and crashed out. Granado managed to stay aboard, but the Motobi had been damaged and he went out four laps later.
Anthony West (Speed Up) and Kallio’s team mate Scott Redding were debating fourth, but Simone Corsi race was ruined when he was handed a ride-through penalty for jumping the start.
A lap later, Rea’s team mate Ratthapark Wilairot lost the front of his Suter, but remounted and soldiered on to come home second last, ahead of a fuming Corsi.
Championship leader Marc Márquez (Suter) held steady in sixth, well a head of his title rival Pol Espargaró (Kalex), who was struggling in 12th.
Then the capricious Sepang weather gods added yet another cruel twist, as the sun came out and a dry line quickly began to form. With the title at stake, Márquez was not taking any chances, and local wildcard Hafizh Syahrin (FTR) soon made his way past, much to the delight of the home fans.
On lap seven West moved up into third past Suter rider Thomas Lüthi and a lap later Rea grabbed the lead from De Angelis; just a few corners later, however, Syahrin turned the race on its ear as he powered past West into third, skilfully took De Angelis, and then out-braked Rea for the lead in an amazing sequence of passes.
And then the rain came down again!
Rea began to put pressure on Syahrin but the local hero held firm until De Angelis and West also got involved in the battle for the lead. De Angelis blitzed him on lap 12 and a lap later Rea and West demoted him to fourth - just as Marquez crashed out, blowing his chance of clinching the title at Sepang.
Mike di Meglio (Kalex), and Suter riders Nico Terol and Jordi Torres crashed out on the same lap and two laps later Luthi slid out of sixth, while De Angelis, West and Rea battled it out for the lead in atrocious conditions.
On lap 16, however, the race director finally called a halt due to standing water on the circuit. Rea was actually in the lead when the flag was waved, but positions were awarded as at the end of the previous lap, giving De Angelis his first win of the season, from West and Rea, each taking their first Moto2 podium, while Syahrin came home an heroic fourth in his maiden Grand Prix.
Márquez’ title rival Espargaró finished 11th, moving up to within 48 points of the leader and keeping the championship alive for one more race.
MOTO3
The race started in scorching hot but dry conditions with local hero Zulfahmi Khairuddin (KTM) taking the hole shot into the tricky Turn 1, only to surrender the lead to Kalex KTM rider Jonas Folger within a few corners, with Efrén Vázquez (FTR Honda) and championship leader Sandro Cortese (KTM) disputing third.
Louis Rossi (FTR Honda) moved up to join the leading group on lap three, taking fourth and challenging Cortese for third. Behind him, Luis Salom (Kalex KTM) fought his way up to fifth, as the leading group of five began to pull away.
On lap nine Salom sling-shotted past Cortese on the main straight in an attempt to keep the championship alive, only to catch a huge wobble on the next lap, handing the lead back to Cortese.
On lap 13, however, the rain flags came out on some corners as the weather closed in, and Khairuddin made his move on Folger to take the lead, much to the delight of the local crowd. But Folger fought back, catching up in the infield although Khairuddin's bike was clearly faster on the straights.
The two were fairing to fairing going into the last lap as Cortese closed in for the kill, and Salom, now eight seconds adrift, battled with Miguel Oliveira (Suter Honda) for fourth.
Third would have given Cortese the very first Moto3 title, but he wasn't willing to settle for that, blitzing Folger and diving past Khairuddin in the last corner to win by 0.028sec, with Folger only 0.219 further adrift.
Khairuddin took his first GP podium at his home circuit, as Cortese became the youngest of only four German riders to win the lightweight class, and the first in almost two decades. It was also the first time that the Austrian KTM factory had won a Grand Prix title in any class.
South African rider Brad Binder (Kalex KTM) qualified seventh and got involved in a splendid midfield dice, coming home 12th after one of his best rides yet in Grands Prix.
RESULTS – MOTOGP
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda – 29min29.049
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha +3.774sec
3 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda +7.144
4 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati +10.518
5 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati +16.759
6 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda +17.276
7 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati +50.282
8 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) ART +51.585
9 James Ellison (Britain) ART +56.676
10 Karel Abraham (Czech Republic) Ducati +57.622
11 Danilo Petrucchi (Italy) Ioda-Suter +1min02.805
12 Michele Pirro (Italy) FTR +1min02.891
13 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha +16.397
MOTO2
1 Alex de Angelis (San Marino) FTR – 36min57.793
2 Anthony West (Australia) Speed Up +0.710sec
3 Gino Rea (Britain) Suter +1.363
4 Hafizh Syahrin (Malaysia) FTR +2.941
5 Julian Simon (Spain) Suter +7.583
6 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Speed Up +10.062
7 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex +23.078
8 Bradley Smith (Britain) Tech 3 +26.957
9 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) +30.063
10 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex +31.514
MOTO3
1 Sandro Cortese (Germany) KTM – 40min54.123
2 Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) KTM +0.028sec
3 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex KTM +0.247
4 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex KTM +8.503
5 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Suter Honda +15.523
6 Danny Kent (Britain) KTM +9.935
7 Alex Rins (Spain) Suter Honda +18.973
8 Efren Vasquez (Spain) FTR Honda +25.419
9 Niklas Ajo (Finland) KTM +30.714
10 Adrian Martin (Spain) FTR Honda +30.763
11 Arthur Sissis (Australia) KTM +30.886
12 Brad Binder (South Africa) Kalex KTM +31.019