MOTEGI (Japan): Jorge Lorenzo won the Japan Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Marc Marquez, ensuring that the MotoGP world championship battle will go down to the final race of the season.
Yamaha rider Lorenzo started from pole position and staged an impeccable display to outperform championship leader Marquez on a Honda after a spectacular duel.
Third was Dani Pedrosa, also on a Honda.
Marquez now has 318 championship points, 13 more than fellow Spaniard Lorenzo with a maximum 25 points left in the season.
Valencia in a fortnight will be the first time in seven years that the world title has gone down to the wire.
Marquez is guaranteed to win the title if he places fourth or better, regardless of Lorenzo’s performance. The 20-year-old is bidding to become the youngest ever MotoGP world champion and the first rookie title winner for 35 years.
But Lorenzo kept up his guard as the Honda duo trailed right behind him until the mid-point of the race.
Marquez said he struggled with his braking on the stop-and-go Motegi circuit, and decided to settle for second after having judged that it would be difficult to catch Lorenzo.
“In the end, I saw Jorge started to push a little bit more,” Marquez said, adding he himself was pushed to his limits.
“So I said, 20 points (second place) for the championship. In Valencia, there will be another race. It will be interesting, for sure.”
Lorenzo has admitted it will be difficult defending his title but voiced satisfaction with Sunday’s race, praised by many journalists as the best of his career.
“It’s one of the happiest days in my MotoGP career,” said Lorenzo, adding the only disappointment is that he only made up five points on Marquez after picking up 25 points for the victory.
“Anyway, we tried our best. Things we could do, we did,” he said. - AFP
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