The best of the 2013 Moto3 World Championship

The Moto3 World Championship, just like Moto2 and MotoGP, has been one of the most exciting in 2013, right up to the last breath, the last lap, the last race: we did not know the name of this edition’s champion until the very end, so it was pure excitement in a spectacular season for our riders.

The great protagonists of this year have been Luis Salom, Maverick Viñales and Álex Rins, the three of them dominated the 2013 season and fought among themselves for the category’s crown, living through two final races in Japan and Valencia. Without a doubt, pure intensity on track, with crashes, comebacks to victory and spectacular surprises.

Maverick Viñales has had a year of getting better and better, achieving three wins, eight second places and four third places; but without a doubt he has been the most consistent of the title contenders. The 25 learned a great deal from his 2012 season, and this year he wanted things clear and without stress or madness. So the Catalan scored points in every race, usually from the podium positions, starting the season with 2nd places, then winning two consecutive races, and afterwards continuing to score consistently in the top positions.

Viñales’s consistency meant that he was always in the top positions in the standings, but with Luis Salom and Álex Rins winning more races, they were not as consistent, and those mistakes by these two riders handed the title to the 25, who ends his time in Moto3 with this championship crown to move up to Moto2 at full strength.

For Rins it was his second full season in the Moto3 World Championship, and while in 2012 he was Rookie of the Year, in 2013 he finished as runner-up and fought until the last moment to win the category’s crown. Rins achieved six wins this year, five second places and three third places. Therefore he earned many points for the Catalan, but he also suffered a DNF at the Jerez circuit and a very low finish in Japan after a crash. Those two poor results cost him the chance to clinch the title without problems; he was not as consistent as Mack.

A brilliant season for the 42; there is nothing more to say about Rins’s season, with many wins, always in the top positions, with great races and spectacle. But those two rounds with problems left him a little out of contention for the final round, where he needed to win but could not on that occasion against Viñales, and he finished as runner-up in his second year in the World Motorcycle Racing Championship.

And what can be said about the outstanding season of Luis Salom, the veteran, experience turned into a young rider? Without a doubt Luis learned a great deal over these seasons, but above all in 2012, when he managed to carve out a place among the leading riders, and now this year he arrived at the season with an excellent team and everything to win. The Mallorcan maintained the first position in the overall standings for many races, achieving seven wins, two second places and three third places, but he also had failures late in the season, with a crash in Japan and a lower position at the end of the race in Valencia.

The three have been the great protagonists, and Álex Márquez also had his moments of glory, but without a doubt it was the year of Rins-Viñales-Salom. Now two of them will be in Moto2, while Rins will stay to try to win the crown next season.

Spectacular and a great show in Moto3.

Photo | teams and MotoGP Official website