The continent of Asia could see two World Champions crowned on Sunday. One in his rookie season in front of his manufactures home crowd. The other on a track he has led every lap at as he goes for his fourth consecutive title.
Marc Márquez leads fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo by eighteen points entering the penultimate round of the 2013 MotoGP season, the Japanese Grand Prix from Twin Ring Motegi. Lorenzo won pole in wet conditions earlier today with Márquez qualifying second and American Nicky Hayden rounding out the front row.
Márquez needs to outscore Lorenzo by seven points to clinch the World Championship on the track his manufacture Honda owns. If Márquez wins, he would need Lorenzo to finish third or worse. This is Lorenzo's third career pole at Motegi. He has never won from pole at Motegi and his lone win there was in 2009. Márquez has won two of the last three years at Motegi winning in 125cc in 2010 and in Moto2 last year. He finished second in Moto2 in 2011.
Other notable riders starting positions in tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix include Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso on row two. Álvaro Bautista, Stefan Brandl and Aleix Espargaró on row three with Yonny Hernández, Cal Crutchlow and Katsuyuki Nakasuga on row four. American Colin Edwards starts fourteenth.
In Moto2, Spaniard Pol Espargaró could clinch the title if he outscores British rider Scott Redding by nine points. Espargaró finished second in the Moto2 championship last year to Marc Márquez. Though unlikely, it is possible for Spaniard Luis Salom to clinch the Moto3 title at Motegi. Salom would have to outscore fellow Spaniards Álex Rins by twenty points and Maverick Viñales by three points. Salom finished second in the Moto3 championship last year to German Sandro Cortese.
The Japanese Grand Prix can be seen live at 1:00 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 2.
In India, Sebastian Vettel starts on pole for his third consecutive Indian Grand Prix as the German looks to clinch his fourth consecutive World Drivers' Championship on Sunday. Vettel's pole winning time was 0.752 seconds faster than fellow German Nico Rosberg who joins him on row one. Lewis Hamilton will start third next to Mark Webber. Former Ferrari teammates Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen will start on row three. Nico Hülkenberg and Vettel's only rival for the championship Fernando Alonso start on row four with McLaren drivers Sergio Pérez and Jenson Button rounding out the top ten.
Vettel has to exit India with at least a seventy-five point lead to clinch the title. If Alonso were to win, Vettel would need to finish at least fifth to clinch the title.
The Indian Grand Prix can be seen live at 5:00 a.m. ET on NBCSN.
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