Andrea Dovizioso scores an intense MotoGP victory in Japan, Márquez 2nd
Dovi takes the win at the MotoGP round in Japan, after a magnificent battle with Márquez.
The MotoGP World Championship was the last to head out onto the Motegi track to contest the Japanese Grand Prix, in difficult conditions with rain very much present, as in the other two categories of the World Championship.
The start was very good for Marc Márquez, who took the lead, but he soon saw Jorge Lorenzo, aboard his Ducati, overtake him and push very hard to break away from the field. However, the 99 then watched Danilo Petrucci, on another Italian machine, manage to pass him and take the front, with the Italian pushing flat out from the first place on the grid.
Márquez and Dovi, who were behind Lorenzo, managed to overtake him, and the Mallorcan was seen losing positions non-stop. The 99 seemed to have some problem with his bike or an accessory, as the situation we were seeing was not normal. While Márquez and Dovi were engaged in a brutal battle, they could not afford to let their guard down, as Zarco, Iannone and Rins were coming up behind very strongly.
With 19 laps to go we saw Valentino Rossi crash to the ground. Luckily the Italian got up quickly after the incident, but another zero for him in the count for 2017. Meanwhile, at the front things heated up, with Marc closing the gap to Petrux and Dovi glued to the wheel of the 93, so an intense fight among the leading trio was expected. With 11 laps to go, Marc overtook Petrux and, immediately afterwards, Dovi passed Danilo, undoubtedly team orders, as is normal.
Dovi studied Marc for several laps, but with 6 laps to go he decided to pass the one with Honda, moving into the lead, though the two stayed quite close. Then came the moment of truth: with 3 laps to go we began to see overtakes everywhere between the two of them, without question the best riders of the season. It was the most exciting racing right to the end, but after a tremendous scare for Márquez, and in the last part of the lap, Andrea pulled off a textbook overtake to win his fifth race of the season, cutting the gap in the overall standings to 11 points.
The top 10 was completed by Petrucci 3rd, Iannone 4th, Rins 5th, Lorenzo 6th, Aleix Espargaró 7th, Zarco 8th, Viñales 9th and Baz 10th.
On to Australia.
Photo | MotoGP Official
