Lorenzo out to get Rossi at Motegi

Dani Pedrosa won an excellent battle with Valentino Rossi for the final two spots on the podium, while Marc Marquez unfortunately crashed out on just the second lap. At the Aragon GP, Jorge Lorenzo made his sixth win for the season and reduced Rossi’s lead by nine points. The 2015 MotoGP World Championship now moves onto round 15, the Motul Grand Prix of Japan at the Twin Ring Motegi. This will be the 17th year in a row Motegi has hosted a GP event.

Yamaha’s Rossi, needs to bounce back at Motegi after his lead in the standings was cut to just 14 points at Aragon. Lorenzo is on cloud 9 after his great performance at Aragon and will be the man to beat having won back-to-back races at Motegi over the last two seasons. The Spaniard has been on the podium five times in the MotoGP™ class at the circuit including winning the MotoGP™ race in 2009 and will be looking to reduce the gap to Rossi even more. Repsol Honda’s Marquez trails Rossi by 79 points at Aragon but comes into the Japanese GP after having broken his left hand in a cycling accident. The Spaniard lifted the MotoGP™ title at Motegi last year after crossing the line in second, repeating his race result from his rookie season. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion has finished in either first or second at Motegi over the last five years across all classes, but has never won a MotoGP™ race at the circuit.

Last year Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso qualified on pole and crossed the line in fifth to record the team’s best finish at the track since Stoner’s victory. Ducati have won four MotoGP™ races at Motegi, the last of which came with Casey Stoner in 2010.  Bradley Smith (143pts) currently occupies fifth in the MotoGP™ World Championship and leads the Satellite battle by 40 points from Octo Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci, with LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow and Smith’s teammate Pol Espargaro level on 88 points. In the Open standings it is Forward Racing’s Loris Baz who leads the way with 28 points ahead of Hector Barbera (23pts) on the Avintia Racing Ducati and LCR Honda’s Jack Miller in third (16pts).

The Motul Grand Prix of Japan officially kicks off this weekend. Stay tuned for more updates.