The 2013 MotoGP season will surely go down to the wire after yesterday’s drama-filled race at Phillip Island in Australia.

Spain’s Marc Marquez was within easy reach of claiming the 2013 crown in his rookie season at the weekend until a pit-lane error saw him disqualified and the championship pendulum swung slightly in favour his main rival, fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo.

Reigning MotoGP champion Lorenzo now  feels his 2013 title chances have increased 10-fold following Sunday’s incident-packed Australian Grand Prix.

In the first ever dry MotoGP race to feature mandatory pit stops, due to fears about overheating tyres, Lorenzo bolted away from pole position at Phillip Island, although he couldn’t shake off title leader Marquez and the second Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa.

A near fall from his Yamaha put Marquez and Pedrosa right on Lorenzo’s rear wheel by the time Pedrosa peeled into the pits on lap 9 of 19. Lorenzo followed on lap 10, but rookie Marquez amazingly missed the ten-lap deadline due to a mix-up and was later black flagged.

All of which meant Lorenzo, who could have lost his title to Marquez on Sunday, instead gained 25 points and is now just 18 points behind with two rounds remaining.

“It was a crazy, chaotic race,” said Lorenzo, after his sixth victory of the year. “It was the first time we had changed bikes in a dry race. It was difficult for everyone.

“We practiced changing the bike a lot, which was one of the keys of our victory.

“After the warm-up we changed strategy. I watched my [bike swap] on the video and also Marc’s. He was really smart. They had the fastest possible way. We were slow, losing almost two seconds to them. So I tried to copy his style. I practiced before the race and improved a lot.

“At the start of the race we were running low 1m 28s. It was amazing, close to pole position, but also Dani and Marc were just as fast so I couldn’t open a gap. Then I almost crashed in one corner and Marc was on my wheel again.”

After Marquez’s late pit stop, he emerged back on track just as race leader Lorenzo was entering turn one. Contact between the followed.

“I braked too late, so I was out of the line, and I think he also entered very fast. I think we both have some fault for this collision,” said Lorenzo.

There are two races to go and a maximum of 50 points still available.

2013 World Championship standings:

1. Marc Marquez ESP Honda (F) * 298 points
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha (F) 280 points (-18)
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Honda (F) 264 points (-34)
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha (F) 214 points (-84)
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha (S) 179 points (-119)
6. Alvaro Bautista ESP Honda (S) 147 points (-151)
7. Stefan Bradl GER Honda (S) 135 points (-163)
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati (F) 127 points (-171)
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati (F) 111 points (-187)
10. Bradley Smith GBR Yamaha (S) * 99 points (-199)
11. Aleix Espargaro ESP ART (CRT) 88 points (-210)
12. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati (S) * 55 points (-243)
13. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati (S) 50 points (-248)
14. Colin Edwards USA FTR-Kawasaki (CRT) 36 points (-262)
15. Randy de Puniet FRA ART (CRT) 33 points (-265)
16. Hector Barbera ESP FTR-Kawasaki (CRT) 31 points (-267)
17. Danilo Petrucci ITA Ioda Suter-BMW (CRT) 24 points (-274)
18. Yonny Hernandez COL ART (CRT)/Ducati (S) 20 points (-278)
19. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN FTR-Kawasaki (CRT) 13 points (-285)
20. Claudio Corti ITA FTR-Kawasaki (CRT) * 11 points (-287)
21. Ben Spies USA Ducati (S) 9 points (-289)
22. Alex de Angelis RSM Ducati (S) 5 points (-293)
23. Karel Abraham CZE ART (CRT) 5 points (-293)
24. Michael Laverty GBR PBM/ART (CRT) * 3 points (-295)
25. Bryan Staring AUS FTR-Honda (CRT) * 2 points (-296)
26. Javier del Amor ESP FTR-Kawasaki (CRT) 1 points (-297)