Iannone wins in Motegi as Marquez captures championship lead

From the outside of the front row Iannone (Speed Master Suter) passed Marquez (Catalunya Suter) on the run down to the first corner, the first move in a race-long battle between the pair.

Simone Corsi (Ioda FTR) and a charging Stefan Bradl, who had started eighth on the Kiefer Kalex, also got themselves involved, with the top four all covered by less than 1s.

On lap 7 Marquez found his way by Iannone on the pit straight, but that only spurred on the 22-year-old. He retook the lead several corners later and then set a series of fastest laps, with only Marquez able to stick with him.

Bradl meanwhile had worked his way past Corsi and looked like he may do enough to preserve a narrow championship advantage, until Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Suter) and Alex de Angelis (JIR Motobi) made it a four-way fight for third.

Bradl's aggressive start was taking its toll, and he was picked off by Luthi and then Corsi, dropping him to fifth. He fought back on the last lap to snatch fourth from Corsi, but even so knew he would lose a championship lead held since the very first race.

The damage was nearly made worse as Iannone seemed to find neutral and surrendered a 1s gap to Marquez, but the Italian attacked instantly and passed Marquez again to take his third win of the year.

Marquez now leads Bradl by one point as a result, with three races remaining.

De Angelis came home sixth, ahead of Bradley Smith (Tech 3), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP Suter) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens FTR).

Home favourite Yuki Takahashi crashed from a fight for 12th on lap 6, while the Pons Kalex squad saw Aleix Espargaro struggle and pit with tyre issues and Axel Pons retire in the gravel six laps from the finish.

Results - 23 laps:

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike               Time/Gap
 1.  Andrea Iannone       Speed Master Suter    43m25.007s
 2.  Marc Marquez         Catalunya Suter         + 1.999s
 3.  Thomas Luthi         Interwetten Suter       + 3.686s
 4.  Stefan Bradl         Kiefer Kalex            + 4.313s
 5.  Simone Corsi         Ioda FTR                + 4.647s
 6.  Alex de Angelis      JIR Motobi              + 4.813s
 7.  Bradley Smith        Tech 3                 + 10.520s
 8.  Dominique Aegerter   Technomag-CIP Suter    + 10.725s
 9.  Esteve Rabat         Blusens FTR            + 11.387s
10.  Mika Kallio          Marc VDS Suter         + 12.803s
11.  Xavier Simeon        Tech 3                 + 18.259s
12.  Anthony West         MZ                     + 20.815s
13.  Michele Pirro        Gresini Moriwaki       + 23.795s
14.  Mattia Pasini        Ioda FTR               + 24.388s
15.  Pol Espargaro        Speed Up FTR           + 34.071s
16.  Jules Cluzel         Forward Suter          + 38.236s
17.  Kenny Noyes          Avintia FTR            + 39.505s
18.  Max Neukirchner      MZ                     + 39.609s
19.  Kenan Sofuoglu       Technomag-CIP Suter    + 42.296s
20.  Scott Redding        Marc VDS Suter         + 44.162s
21.  Valentin Debise      Speed Up FTR           + 46.662s
22.  Ratthapark Wilairot  SAG FTR                + 46.950s
23.  Yonny Hernandez      Blusens FTR            + 49.625s
24.  Randy Krummenacher   Kiefer Kalex           + 50.590s
25.  Robertino Pietri     Italtrans Suter        + 52.044s
26.  Joan Olive           Castello FTR           + 52.365s
27.  Mike di Meglio       Tech 3               + 1m02.873s
28.  Tomoyoshi Koyama     Technomag-CIP Suter  + 1m35.559s
29.  Mashel Al Naimi      QMMF Moriwaki        + 1m35.771s
30.  Yuki Takahashi       Gresini Moriwaki         + 1 lap
31.  Aleix Espargaro      Pons Kalex              + 3 laps

Retirements:

     Axel Pons            Pons Kalex                6 laps
     Santiago Hernandez   SAG FTR                   6 laps
     Jordi Torres         Aspar Suter               0 laps
     Raffaele de Rosa     Forward Suter             0 laps
     Ricard Cardus        QMMF Moriwaki             0 laps