MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix 2015: Dani Pedrosa shocks Yamaha paid Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo to take first win of season

Pedrosa battled form sixth on the grid to triupmh in damn conditions while Rossi extend his championship lead over Lorenzo with second place

Dani Pedrosa punches the air after taking victory in Motegi (Getty Images)

It was still spitting with rain at the twin ring circuit of Motegi in Japan when the lights went out and it was Valentino Rossi who led into the first corner, with Jorge Lorenzo to the second. The Spaniard looked likely to clear off for the win in his notorious style, but after he led for 18 laps Dani Pedrosa swept by on his Honda RC213V and took his 50^th win of his GP career, 8.573 seconds ahead of the Yamaha pair.

“I think it was unexpected as I lost a lot at the beginning” said Pedrosa, who started from sixth place. “I couldn’t feel the tyre, but I tried to stay in fourth. The other riders slowed though and I could see my pace was faster. I’m really happy for this win and thankful to everyone around me.”

All eyes were on Yamaha after all, as they went into this round with just 14 points between the teammates. The two pit-boards only showed information on the other rider and after a thrilling qualifying session yesterday which saw Rossi and Lorenzo trade places for pole position, no-one saw the Honda coming in the wet conditions of today.

Dani Pedrosa lifts the trophy after winning the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix (Getty Images)

Lorenzo took pole position while breaking the circuit record with a lap of 1 minute 43.790 seconds. The Yamaha duo were equal off the start-line, but by the end of the first lap, Lorenzo had opened a gap of 1.532 to his teammate for the 24-lap race. By the halfway point it was 3.691 seconds. Choosing to race with the ‘winglets’ on his Yamaha M1 for the first time, it was also the first time this year that the 28-year-old has been overtaken when out in first position.

Rossi fought hard to keep second from the first lap, while Pedrosa moved into third place from the start, but lost the position to the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso for eleven laps before reclaiming and hunting down Rossi. He overtook The Doctor with nine laps to go and bolted past Lorenzo two laps later, showing slightly less tyre degradation than the Yamaha’s as their pace slowed. Rossi was able to close in on Lorenzo during this battle though and with five laps to go, found the opportunity to pass when Lorenzo ran wide, taking second place and four more points than his rival.

Increasing the championship gap to 18 points, Rossi said: “It was a very long and a difficult race. Jorge was better than me at the beginning but then our pace was the same. The tyre made it difficult to control the bike, but when I saw Jorge slowed down… it’s a good result for the championship.”

Dani Pedrosa leads Valentino Rossi in the closing stages (Getty Images)

Finishing in third, Lorenzo said: “I could’ve won, but I pushed hard at first and made my tyre worse than Dani’s and Valentino’s. When the track dried, I couldn’t brake. Now there are three races left and we will try to win.”

The factory Ducati’s of Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone had qualified ahead of the race winner and were both on the second row of the grid, managing to pass the third place Honda of Marc Marquez. Getting a terrible start Marquez dropped to sixth but managed to overtake Iannone for fifth place before the Italian was forced to retire with mechanical problems on lap ten, leaving Marquez to take fourth and Iannone’s compatriot and teammate to take fifth.

The battle for sixth place was between the British riders, with Cal Crutchlow coming ahead of Bradley Smith as Smith. Having crashed three times this weekend, Smith dropped one place in the Championship standings to sixth as Pedrosa pulls ahead by two points.

Over in Moto3, it was Niccolo Antonelli who won the race with British leader Danny Kent finishing in sixth place, just ahead of rival Enea Bastianini. Kent extends his championship lead to 56 points and if he can finish ahead Bastianini again next week in Phillip Island, then the world championship title will be his.

The Moto2 crown was confirmed today as Johann Zarco’s on his Ajo Motorostport Kalex, and his main rival Tito Rabat pulled out of the weekend due to injuries suffered in a training accident.

The next race takes place next weekend in Phillip Island, Australia. Catch all the action on BTSport2HD, with the MotoGP race starting at 6am on Sunday 18^th October.