Races – 2017 MotoGP Japanese GP Report and Results –

2017 MotoGP Japanese GP Report and Results

Races - 2017 MotoGP Japanese GP Report and Results -

The MotoGP 2017 title will undoubtedly be played between Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso, winner of the Japanese GP after beating his Spanish rival in the last lap in the wet! "DesmoDovi" takes its fifth success on the Honda circuit, while the official Yamaha team takes water with the fall of Rossi and the 9th place of Viñales… Report and results.

At the start of the season, the fight for the title seemed to have to be played between Maverick Viñales (Yamaha) and Marc Marquez (Honda, while Rossi, Doviozioso and Pedrosa would play the referees of choice between the two Spaniards. It is clear to three races of the end of the season that this announced duel never happened: after a superb start to the season, "Mack" collapsed while an unexpected guest replaced him against Marquez: Andrea Dovizioso !

  • Japanese GP –

The 2017 Japanese GP is the most glaring demonstration of this: Maverick Viñales was never in the game on the soggy track of Motegi, cursing all weekend against the lack of traction of his M1. "Under these conditions, the title is lost", he confided bitterly on the evening of qualifying which he finished in 14th place….

Same story for his teammate Valentino Rossi, admitting to having tried everything to resolve the problem of grip at the rear which penalizes the Yamaha in the dry as in the wet. The "Doctor" will have the bitter experience of it in the race, being trapped 18 laps from the finish while the victory was played far ahead between Dovizioso and Marquez.

  • Live – 
  • Live – 
  • Live – 

The two men engaged in a superb battle ahead of Danilo Petrucci, again on the podium with his private Ducati fitted with an extra-soft rear tire. The defending champion seemed on course to win on his employer’s land, but a small mistake on the last lap gave his rival wings: Dovi understood that Marquez was on the limit and accelerated to catch up with him in the last sector.

The official Ducati rider then managed to pass Marc Marquez, then contain his counter-attack in the last corner to win with a quarter of a second on the finish line. "DesmoDovi" takes his 5th victory this year after his two doubles in Italy and Catalonia, then in Austria and Great Britain. 

"It was a brilliant race!", Assures Marc Marquez, with "the two drivers fighting for the title in a fight until the last corner! In the last lap, I had a small advantage which I lost afterwards. to a small error. So I tried everything in the last corner, like in Austria ", smiles the HRC official who loses his second duel against Dovi in ​​the last corner, as at the end of the Austrian GP on the dry this summer…

Dovizioso confirms his stature as candidate for the title

This hard-won success against the most pugnacious rider in MotoGP reinforces the stature of the No. 4, often described as too "tender" to shine in the premier class. Discreetly but surely, Dovi proves the opposite as all eyes were on his new teammate Jorge Lorenzo, sixth in this Japanese race after briefly occupying the front lines.

  • Live – 

Another good performance from Suzuki, which places its two drivers in 4th and 5th place behind "Petrux". Iannone and Rins have obviously benefited from the progress made in the GSX-RR, which released in Japan new fins in the shape of "mustaches" … It remains to be confirmed in the dry, because the fact that the race was contested in the wet muddies the waters and impacts performance.

Zarco slowed down by the sudden withdrawal of the front soft tire ?

The two pilots of the Hamamatsu crest are followed to the finish line by Aprilia d’Aleix Espargaro, very consistent throughout the weekend with the RS-GP on a wet track. The Spaniard is ahead of Johann Zarco, finally eighth in the Japanese GP, which he started from pole position.

The French debutant failed to stay in the leading group and finished 29.475 sec from the winner, ahead of Maverick Viñales and Loris Baz. Would he have been penalized by the removal of the soft tire before he appreciated, imposed by Michelin at the very last minute on the grounds of high wear brought to light during qualifying? ?

  • Live – The choice of MotoGP tires in Motegi
  • Japanese GP – MotoGP Qualifiers: Zarco’s second pole in the wet !

Test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga, 12th, finished third Yamaha rider in front of his home crowd with a short lead over Sam Lowes’ Aprilia. His compatriot Kohta Nozane, who replaced Jonas Folger at Tech3 at short notice, went to the mat at the start of the race. A difficult career for the Japanese rider, who suffered from a fractured line in his hand following a fall in practice.

MotoGP Championship results

Both surprised and admiring, Marquez will come sportingly congratulate Andrea Dovizioso in the parc ferme, sealing with his handshake his change of consideration towards the Italian: if he keeps the lead of the provisional classification, the Spaniard sees Dovizioso reduce his 16 to 11 point difference !

Maverick Viñales, laborious 9th in Japan, meanwhile fell 41 points behind the leader: a significant gap while there are only three races to go (Australia, Malaysia and Valencia) for the third man of the General classification. The annoyed look of the young Spaniard on arrival spoke volumes about his disappointment in the face of this situation, which he explains not being able to restore.

Forced to retire in Japan, Dani Pedrosa is now 74 points behind his teammate at the top of the championship. The Spaniard – 4th in the provisional – is two small points ahead of Valentino Rossi, who pays dearly for his slips on the lands of his employer: now 76 points behind Marquez, the Yamaha official is mathematically out of the race for the title. Fortunately, the Doctor did not injure his recently fractured leg again and will be able to ride safely next Sunday in Australia.

  •  MNC exclusive file – 

Sixth in the provisional with 125 points, Johann Zarco confirms his status as the first private driver and the best rookie of the 2017 season. The Habs nevertheless saw the threat of Lorenzo become clearer, who returned to nine short lengths (116). Thanks to his new podium, Danilo Petrucci is not very far from the Tech3 driver either: 111 points, or only 14 lengths. 

The end of the season will be disputed at all levels !

MotoGP Japanese GP results and standings

  1. 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 47’14.236
  2. 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.249
  3. 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati +10.557
  4. 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +18.845
  5. 42 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +22.982
  6. 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team Ducati +24.464
  7. 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +28.010
  8. 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +29.475
  9. 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +36.575
  10. 76 Loris BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati +48.506
  11. 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +56.357
  12. 21 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA JPN Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha + 1’00.181
  13. 22 Sam LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia + 1’00.980
  14. 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati + 1’03.118
  15. 53 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda + 1’03.514
  16. 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati + 1’04.162
  17. 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM + 1’06.271
  18. 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda + 1’13.250

Not classified

  • 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA (3 laps)
  • 26 Dani PEDROSA (4 laps)
  • 17 Karel ABRAHAM (5 laps)
  • 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW (10 rounds)
  • 46 Valentino ROSSI (19 laps)
  • 31 Kohta NOZANE (21 laps)

Provisional classification of the MotoGP championship 2017

  1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA 244 points
  2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA 233 points
  3. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha SPA 203 points
  4. Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 170 points
  5. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA 168 points
  6. Johann ZARCO Yamaha FRA 125 points
  7. Jorge LORENZO Ducati SPA 116 points
  8. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati ITA 111 points
  9. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda GBR 92 points
  10. Jonas FOLGER Yamaha GER 84 points
  11. Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati SPA 70 points
  12. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia SPA 62 points
  13. Jack MILLER Honda AUS 56 points
  14. Scott REDDING Ducati GBR 56 points
  15. Andrea IANNONE Suzuki ITA 50 points
  16. Loris BAZ Ducati FRA 45 points
  17. Pol ESPARGARO KTM SPA 42 points
  18. Alex RINS Suzuki SPA 38 points
  19. Tito RABAT Honda SPA 29 points
  20. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE 28 points
  21. Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 25 points
  22. Michele PIRRO Ducati ITA 18 points
  23. Bradley SMITH KTM GBR 14 points
  24. Mika KALLIO KTM FIN 11 points
  25. Sam LOWES Aprilia GBR 5 points
  26. Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha JPN 4 points
  27. Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki FRA 1 point
  28. Takuya TSUDA Suzuki JPN
  29. Hiroshi AOYAMA Honda JPN
  30. Kohta NOZANE JPN

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