In one of this season's most thrilling races with a last lap that kept fans on the edge of their seat, Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso secured his fifth victory of the season and closed the Championship battle to just eleven points with three points remaining.
In a race run completely on wet weather tyres, in what was a very wet Japanese weekend, Marc Marquez was quick to take to the lead, however, he was soon overtaken by the Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo, who had started from fifth. Unfortunately for Lorenzo, he was struggling for grip and fell back through the field after he was overtaken by Pramac rider Danilo Petrucci.
Marquez soon overtook Petrucci for the lead with Dovizioso, who had shot up from ninth on the grid, following close behind.
It soon became clear that it was going to be a two horse race as Petrucci settled into a lonely third place and Dovizioso and Marquez fought it out at the front with the lead changing several times, especially on the last lap. Marquez was half a second ahead, but then made a minor mishap and Dovizioso didn't need a second invitation and took the place and the win!
โThere was so much tension today but in the end also so much satisfaction!โ said Ducati's General manager Luigi Dall'Igna. โAndrea was awesome, he did a truly perfect race, and in so doing reduced the gap from Marquez to eleven points. His fifth win of the season, here in Japan, has a special significance and I'm really happy."
"Pity about Jorge, who wasn't able to get the result in a weekend in which he had always been competitive. Now we are thinking about Phillip Island, and we know that it will be a tough battle until the very end but we have all the right cards to fight for the title right down to the wire.โ
Valentino Rossi suffered his second high side of the weekend, but thankfully The Doctor walked away unharmed. Meanwhile, teammate Maverick Vinales crossed the line in 9th.
โWhen we arrived here in Japan, we werenโt expecting this weekend to be as difficult as it turned out to be,โ said Yamaha's Massimo Meregalli. โWe really worked hard to try to find a solution. We put in a lot of effort, but we werenโt able to do it in the end. We never found the rear grip that the riders were looking for in almost all the sessions, as well as in the race itself, but Maverick and Valentino tried to make the best of it. We know that we have a lot of work ahead of us, and I expect that we will use the next round to explore different solutions for the future.โ
Suzuki had a strong result with Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins finishing fourth and fifth while Jorge Lorenzo crossed the line in P6.
โToday we can be very happy. Although this was not a podium or a victory, it is a great result considering the struggles we encountered throughout the season,โ said Davide Brivio โ Suzuki Team Manager. โThis is an important result and it is positive that both riders got into the top five right here in Japan, with our President and all the Management with us in the garage. We gave them a good show to enjoy."
"The weekend has been tough because of the conditions; it was very easy to make a mistake in the race, but the riders have been very good. Andrea had a good pace the whole race. Alex was force to make a comeback from 15th to 5th place, and he did it perfectly. This result gives us some breathing room. We are aware that this race has been run in peculiar conditions, but it's important we haven't made any mistakes.โ
Pole sitter Johann Zarco also fell back through the field eventually finishing 8th.
GP of Japan โ Race classification:
1. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 47'14.236
2. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - +0.249
3. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - +10.557
4. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - +18.845
5. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - +22.982
6. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - +24.464
7. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - +28.010
8. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - +29.475
9. Maverick VIรALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - +36.575
10. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing - +48.506
11. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - +56.357
12. Katsuyuki NAKASUGA, Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing - +1'00.181
13. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - +1'00.980
14. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - +1'03.118
15. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - +1'03.514
16. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - +1'04.162
17. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - +1'06.271
18. Hiroshi AOYAMA, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - +1'13.250
Not Classified
Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 3 Laps
Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 4 Laps
Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 5 Laps
Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - 10 Laps
Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 19 Laps
Kohta NOZANE, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 21 Laps
MotoGP World Standing 2017:
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Honda - 244
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati - 233
3. Maverick VIรALES, Yamaha - 203
4. Dani PEDROSA, Honda - 170
5. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha - 168
6. Johann ZARCO, Yamaha - 125
7. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati - 116
8. Danilo PETRUCCI, Ducati - 111
9. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Honda - 92
10. Jonas FOLGER, Yamaha - 84
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Ducati - 70
12. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia - 62
13. Jack MILLER, Honda - 56
14. Scott REDDING, Ducati - 56
15. Andrea IANNONE, Suzuki - 50
16. Loris BAZ, Ducati - 45
17. Pol ESPARGARO, KTM - 42
18. Alex RINS, Suzuki - 38
19. Tito RABAT, Honda - 29
20. Karel ABRAHAM, Ducati - 28
21. Hector BARBERA, Ducati - 25
22. Michele PIRRO, Ducati - 18
23. Bradley SMITH, KTM - 14
24. Mika KALLIO, KTM - 11
25. Sam LOWES, Aprilia - 5
26. Katsuyuki NAKASUGA, Yamaha - 4
27. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Suzuki - 1
