Motegi MotoGP race day

10:02 And that'll be that for us, as Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo - easily the two best MotoGP riders this year - bring home an ever-familiar result at Motegi.

See you in a weeks' time for Phillip Island - in an even more EU-difficult timezone - for a race that is likely to offer the sternest test yet for Marquez's current win streak.

09:58 Marquez: "Was not easy, especially because I was pushing from the beginning, because the strategy was clear - I tried to open a gap in the beginning because I felt very strong in the warm-up.

"Honestly speaking I start to play a lot with the switches and everything, because like you see [he parked right after the chequered flag], with the fuel and everything I was on the limit. When I take these two seconds, I start to play again with the switches.

"Was not easy to ride because you needed to think many many things on the bike, but I was able to manage in a good way to finish the race in the limit."

09:56 Quartararo had "no more tyre" left in the end.

"Marc had three tenths of pace faster, I really push at my 100 percent to try to stay with him - and Dovi at the end was unbelievable fast, so I needed to push really fast again.

"Really happy, second podium in a row, really proud to achieve the goal we made in the beginning of the year [top rookie]."

09:54 Dovizioso says he was "pushing so hard, a bit over the limit" because he badly wanted second place.

"But I'm happy because we struggle a bit during the weekend, and in the race we did the right choice, from the tyres and the set-up."

09:50 Marquez has equalled fellow Honda legend Mick Doohan on 54 premier-class wins. What a stud.

09:48

09:47 Shout-out to the KTM boys today - the still-recovering Espargaro is a creditable 11th, Oliveira clearly rode a superb race to power through to 12th from an early 18th, and Kallio finally keeps in touch with his fellow RC16 riders to bag 14th.

09:46 Championship standings: 1 Marquez, 350; 2 Dovizioso, 231; 3 Rins, 176; 4 Vinales, 176; 5 Petrucci, 169; 6 Quartararo, 163; 7 Rossi, 145; 8 Miller, 125; 9 Crutchlow, 113; 10 Morbidelli, 100.

09:45

09:45 Quartararo has officially wrapped up rookie of the year, an outcome that has been obvious since something like Jerez.

09:45 Race results: 1 Marquez, 2 Quartararo, 3 Dovizioso, 4 Vinales, 5 Crutchlow, 6 Morbidelli, 7 Rins, 8 Mir, 9 Petrucci, 10 Miller, 11 P Esparagro, 12 Oliveira, 13 Bagnaia, 14 Kallio, 15 A Espargaro, 16 Nakagami, 17 Lorenzo, 18 Abraham, 19 Syahrin, 20 Guintoli.

09:44 Vinales and Crutchlow complete the top five, the latter overtaking Morbidelli on the run down to the chequered flag.

09:43 Marc Marquez wraps up his 10th victory of the season, beating Quartararo by nine tenths at the chequered flag. Quartararo hangs on to second over Dovizioso.

09:42

09:42 Dovizioso has found some serious pace here - he's suddenly within eight tenths of Quartararo, despite the Petronas rider himself making up ground relative to Marquez. But it's the final lap, so it's too late for it all to play out.

09:41 Despite Dovizioso's superb ride, Marquez is on course to secure the MotoGP manufacturers' crown for Honda, as it is set to end the race more than 75 points clear of Ducati.

Marquez has been responsible for 325 of Honda's 331 points in the manufacturers' standings, which is just absurd really.

09:40

09:40 With two laps to go, Dovizioso pulls out half a second between himself and Vinales. We might just have our podium.

09:38 In the midst of their battle, Dovizioso and Vinales have made up serious ground on Marquez and Quartararo. Both have been pushing extremely hard.

09:37 Rossi's futile chase after a top-10 finish ends with the bike in the gravel. It's been a genuinely horrific weekend for the MotoGP legend.

09:36 Vinales is looking for a way past in almost every corner - down the inside, round the outside, you name it. But Dovizioso is holding firm.

09:35 In the meantime, Mir has found a way past Miller, who is now falling into the crutches of his 2020 Ducati ride rival Petrucci.

09:35 Vinales is absolutely all over Dovizioso - and while he doesn't have the straightline performance to force the issue, Dovi cannot afford any mistakes here.

09:33 Rins' potential podium charge has not materialised - and, in fact, he has now slipped behind Crutchlow.

09:32 Vinales now all over Dovizioso again, but he now faces the unenviable task of figuring out how to pass the Ducati and stay far enough ahead on the straight.

09:31 Current order: 1 Marquez, 2 Quartararo, 3 Dovizioso, 4 Vinales, 5 Morbidelli, 6 Rins, 7 Crutchlow, 8 Miller, 9 Mir, 10 Petrucci, 11 Rossi, 12 P Espargaro, 13 Bagnaia, 14 Oliveira, 15 Kallio, 16 A Espargaro, 17 Nakagami, 18 Syahrin, 19 Abraham, 20 Lorenzo, 21 Guintoli.

09:29 It's 2,6 seconds between Marquez and Quartararo now, with the Frenchman himself three and a half seconds up on Dovizioso. He's dropping time to his pursuers but it might be too tough an ask for the likes of Dovizioso and Vinales.

09:29 Vinales gets Morbidelli on the inside of Turn 2 for fourth place. He has half a second to make up to Dovizioso.

09:27 Rins and Crutchlow have made their way past Miller, whose pace has dropped off dramatically on the soft front - soft rear combination.

09:26 Morbidelli's hopes of a first podium take a hit as Dovizioso makes the most of Ducati's straightline speed to line up a successful move for third place.

09:24 Quartararo can't live with Marquez's pace anymore. The champion is now two seconds up the road, with just over 10 laps left to run.

09:22 Marquez has increased his lead over Quartararo to 1.5s. He may have finally broken the French rookie's resistance.

09:21 Two overtakes for Suzuki in quick succession, as Mir finds a way past a struggling Petrucci and Rins passes Crutchlow moments later. Rins might still be in this podium fight - he's just three seconds back from Morbidelli.

09:20 Current order: 1 Marquez, 2 Quartararo, 3 Morbidelli, 4 Dovizioso, 5 Vinales, 6 Miller, 7 Crutchlow, 8 Rins, 9 Petrucci, 10 Mir, 11 Rossi, 12 P Espargaro, 13 Bagnaia, 14 Oliveira, 15 A Espargaro, 16 Kallio, 17 Nakagami, 18 Syahrin, 19 Lorenzo, 20 Abraham, 21 Guintoli.

09:19 Dovizioso duly picks off Miller, and Vinales soon follows suit.

09:18 And now Morbidelli has cleared Miller, who is struggling to maintain pace. This looks easily the best shot at a maiden podium Morbidelli's had all year.

09:18 Morbidelli chops Dovizioso at Turn 1, allowing Vinales to swoop past on the inside of the Ducati man - but Dovizioso retaliates immediately on the run down to Turn 2.

09:17 The gap between Marquez and Quartararo has been hovering at around a second for a few laps now. The champion is not out of sight, but Quartararo needs to be closer than this.

09:16 Iannone has hit the deck at Turn 11, which is a sharp right-hander after the long straight.

09:15 Dovizioso is a little too wide on corner exit and skips over a patch of grass, but manages to hang on to the bike and keep position from Vinales.