Andrea Dovizioso reduced his deficit in the MotoGP championship to just 11 points after prevailing in a thrilling battle with standings leader Marc Marquez in a wet Japanese Grand Prix.
Marquez swooped into the lead at the first corner off the line, while Jorge Lorenzo slotted in behind and team-mate Dovizioso jumped up to fifth.
Lorenzo took the lead away from his compatriot at Turn 9, while, shod with the extra-soft rear tyre – one of just six riders to run with that compound – Danilo Petrucci used his early grip advantage to hunt down the Spaniard and take second away from him.
The Pramac rider then scythed past Lorenzo for the lead and pulled over a second clear, though was gradually reeled in by Marquez over the next few laps as Lorenzo faded away to eighth.
By lap four, Dovizioso had moved into third and was being dragged along by Marquez, who eventually found a way through on Petrucci on lap 12 at Turn 11.
Dovizioso immediately passed Petrucci at the first corner on the following lap and began his pursuit of Marquez, with the Italian overhauling the Honda rider with six laps remaining.
The Ducati rider put almost a second of daylight between the pair, but Marquez closed him down again and retook the lead at the beginning of lap 21.
Dovizioso retaliated with a daring move up the inside of the 130R corner, though the Honda rider countered this into Turn 9 and edged half a second clear as they began the final lap.
Marquez looked to have the victory covered, but a moment at Turn 8 allowed Dovizioso to get back on terms with the Spaniard.
The Italian outbraked Marquez into Turn 11, but the Spaniard fought back with a last-gasp move at the final corner. Just like in Austria earlier in the year, however, Marquez ran in too hot and Dovizioso snatched his fifth win of the year to cut his championship deficit down to 11 points.
Petrucci burned through his extra-soft rear tyre and finished a distant third, while Andrea Iannone took Suzuki’s first top five result of the season in fourth ahead of team-mate Alex Rins.
Lorenzo recovered to sixth at the chequered flag ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and pole man Johann Zarco.
Maverick Vinales‘ struggles in the wet continued, with the Spaniard finishing a lowly ninth to slip 41 points back in the standings with just three races to go. Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi crashed at Turn 8 in the early stages while running eighth.
Loris Baz completed the top 10 ahead of Pol Espargaro and Yamaha wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga, while Sam Lowes took his best-ever MotoGP result in 13th from Hector Barber and Tito Rabat.
Lowes‘ compatriot Cal Crutchlow endured a nightmare afternoon at Motegi, the LCR Honda rider crashing twice. Fellow Honda man Dani Pedrosa retired in the closing laps having dropped outside of the points.
Alvaro Bautista, Karel Abraham and Tech3 stand-in Kohta Nozane also crashed out in the treacherous conditions.
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