2017 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 15 of 18 races in the 2017 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	October 15, 2017
Official name	Motul Grand Prix of Japan [1] [2] [3]
Location	Twin Ring Motegi
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.801 km (2.983 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position Rider Johann Zarco Yamaha Time 1:53.469 Fastest lap Rider Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Time 1:56.568 on lap 18 Podium First Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Second Marc Márquez Honda Third Danilo Petrucci Ducati
Moto2
Pole position Rider Takaaki Nakagami Kalex Time 1:53.776 Fastest lap Rider Álex Márquez Kalex Time 2:07.057 on lap 14 Podium First Álex Márquez Kalex Second Xavi Vierge Tech 3 Third Hafizh Syahrin Kalex
Moto3
Pole position Rider Nicolò Bulega KTM Time 2:09.320 Fastest lap Rider Romano Fenati Honda Time 2:13.906 on lap 9 Podium First Romano Fenati Honda Second Niccolò Antonelli KTM Third Marco Bezzecchi Mahindra

The 2017 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the fifteenth round of the 2017 MotoGP season. It was held at the Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi on October 15, 2017. Andrea Dovizioso won his fifth race of the season after a last lap battle with championship leader Marc Márquez, shrinking his lead to 11 points with three rounds left to race. ^[4] Danilo Petrucci finished in third place over 10 seconds behind the leaders, while Team Suzuki teammates Andrea Iannone and Álex Rins finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Report

Background

During the previous round in Aragon, Marc Márquez won the race which extended his championship lead over Andrea Dovizioso to 16 points. ^[5]

Jack Miller missed the weekend due to an injury sustained to his right tibia during a test two weeks before the race, former 250cc world champion and Honda test rider Hiroshi Aoyama replacing him throughout the weekend. ^[6] Jonas Folger would also miss the race weekend due to a recurring battle with Epstein-Barr virus and would fly back to his home in Germany to recover, he was replaced by his team with Japanese rider Kohta Nozane. ^[6]

Practice and Qualifying

During both practice sessions on Friday, rain dominated the race track. ^[5] On the first practice session, Marquez finished with the fastest time. ^[5]

With rain still occurring throughout the second practice, Dovizioso would run the fastest time of the weekend with Márquez finishing 0.2 seconds behind despite nearly falling off his Honda when setting his laps. ^[5] Surprisingly, Aleix Espargaró would set the third quickest time of the session, producing it on the last lap of the session, while Dovizioso's Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth and Johann Zarco would finish fifth. ^[5]

Both KTM's would qualify to Q2, with Pol Espargaro ending the session in first place and Bradley Smith in second. ^[7]

At the beginning of Q2, Rossi grabbed attention by choosing to set his first laps on slick tyres with rain still falling on the track. ^[7] With five minutes to go in the session, Rossi's decision to start on slick tyres didn't work, while Marquez made the decision to complete his second qualifying run on slick tyres. ^[7] Zarco's pole would surprise everyone, despite the domination of Marquez and Dovizioso throughout the practice sessions. Marquez would qualify in third place, while Dovizioso qualified in ninth. ^[7]

Race

The race was conducted in pouring rain which was to remain throughout the entirety of the race, with concerns over water flooding the track and poor visibility for the riders, leaving doubts as to whether the race would be safe enough to run full distance. ^{[4] [8]} Márquez led the field into turn one, with Lorenzo leading the field after the first lap after an incredible start on his Ducati, while Zarco dropped to the middle of the field after a terrible start at pole position. ^{[4] [8]} Petrucci took the lead from Lorenzo during the second lap and would be joined by Marquez and Dovizioso on the same lap, with Lorenzo dropping to fourth by the third lap. ^[8] Petrucci continued to extend his lead through most of the opening half of the race, leading the championship contenders by over a second. ^{[4] [8]} Rossi became the first casualty of the race, while catching up and passing teammate Vinales in eighth place he would lose control of his bike, sliding into a nearby gravel trap and was unable to get his bike restarted. ^[8]

As riders continued to battle throughout the entire field, the race conditions gradually became worse with tyre spray impacting rider visibility due to the close proximity and battles with fellow riders. ^[8] With eleven laps to go, both Márquez and Dovizioso overtook Petrucci who would remain in third for the rest of the race with a "cat and mouse battle" happening between first and second. ^[4] During lap 19, Dovizioso made his first overtake on Marquez for the lead, setting the fastest lap of the race in the previous lap and began opening up a slight 0.8 second lead. ^{[4] [8]} Three laps to go, Márquez took the lead back from Dovizioso and prepared to generate a slight lead throughout, which allowed Dovizioso to rethink a new strategy, to attack on the final lap. ^[4] On the final lap, Márquez and Dovizioso had a slight 0.2 second gap between them, with Marquez the first to make a mistake by running wide and nearly high-siding off the bike at turn 8, which allowed Dovizioso room to pass him and take the lead. ^{[4] [8]} In a last ditch attempt to win, Marquez tried to overtake Dovizioso on the last corner, being able to get on the inside of the corner taking the lead back although would run ride when exiting the corner onto home straight, giving Dovizioso enough space to retake the lead and win the race. ^[4]

Post-Race

The race is said to have cemented Dovizioso's ability to be able to fight for a championship, which was highly debated throughout the season as he continued his surprise charge at the championship. ^[8] Marquez remarked on the Ducati's incredible speed throughout the back straight as a weak point of his during the race, "I knew the Ducati was faster on the back straight, even in the braking point," when speaking about Dovizioso's victory Marquez stated he knew Dovizioso would be strong at Motegi as the track works to the Ducati's strengths, despite it being Honda's home track. ^[9]

Classification

MotoGP

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	Ducati	24	47:14.236	9	25
2	93	Marc Márquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	24	+0.249	3	20
3	9	Danilo Petrucci	Octo Pramac Racing	Ducati	24	+10.557	2	16
4	29	Andrea Iannone	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	24	+18.845	11	13
5	42	Álex Rins	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	24	+22.982	10	11
6	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati Team	Ducati	24	+24.464	5	10
7	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	24	+28.010	4	9
8	5	Johann Zarco	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	24	+29.475	1	8
9	25	Maverick Viñales	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	24	+36.575	14	7
10	76	Loris Baz	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	24	+48.506	13	6
11	44	Pol Espargaró	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	24	+56.357	8	5
12	21	Katsuyuki Nakasuga	Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	24	+1:00.181	23	4
13	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	24	+1:00.980	18	3
14	8	Héctor Barberá	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	24	+1:03.118	17	2
15	53	Tito Rabat	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	24	+1:03.514	19	1
16	45	Scott Redding	Octo Pramac Racing	Ducati	24	+1:04.162	22
17	38	Bradley Smith	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	24	+1:06.271	7
18	7	Hiroshi Aoyama	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	24	+1:13.250	21
Ret	19	Álvaro Bautista	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	21	Accident	16
Ret	26	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	20	Rear Tyre	6
Ret	17	Karel Abraham	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	19	Handling	20
Ret	35	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	Honda	14	Accident	15
Ret	46	Valentino Rossi	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	5	Accident	12
Ret	31	Kohta Nozane	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	3	Accident Damage	24
Sources: [10] [11] [12]

Moto2

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	73	Álex Márquez	Kalex	15	32:08.901	2	25
2	97	Xavi Vierge	Tech 3	15	+1.465	3	20
3	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Kalex	15	+3.134	6	16
4	42	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	15	+5.415	12	13
5	54	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	15	+5.618	4	11
6	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	15	+6.163	1	10
7	44	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	15	+7.597	5	9
8	21	Franco Morbidelli	Kalex	15	+11.400	15	8
9	77	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	15	+11.572	11	7
10	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	15	+14.310	30	6
11	12	Thomas Lüthi	Kalex	15	+26.571	13	5
12	87	Remy Gardner	Tech 3	15	+30.183	19	4
13	23	Marcel Schrötter	Suter	15	+30.597	8	3
14	33	Ikuhiro Enokido	Kalex	15	+32.037	25	2
15	6	Tarran Mackenzie	Suter	15	+35.252	31	1
16	37	Augusto Fernández	Speed Up	15	+38.385	10
17	27	Iker Lecuona	Kalex	15	+40.934	18
18	49	Axel Pons	Kalex	15	+41.470	16
19	40	Fabio Quartararo	Kalex	15	+42.757	17
20	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	15	+43.147	29
21	24	Simone Corsi	Speed Up	15	+45.410	28
22	34	Ryo Mizuno	Kalex	15	+46.813	23
23	89	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	15	+50.531	33
24	32	Isaac Viñales	Kalex	15	+51.898	22
25	2	Jesko Raffin	Kalex	15	+53.699	27
26	62	Stefano Manzi	Kalex	15	+1:01.051	20
27	57	Edgar Pons	Kalex	15	+1:04.776	32
28	9	Jorge Navarro	Kalex	15	+1:07.423	26
Ret	41	Brad Binder	KTM	7	Accident	24
Ret	5	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	6	Accident Damage	14
Ret	11	Sandro Cortese	Suter	6	Accident Damage	7
Ret	19	Xavier Siméon	Kalex	5	Accident	9
Ret	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	1	Accident	21
OFFICIAL MOTO2 REPORT

Moto3

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Romano Fenati	Honda	13	29:22.278	6	25
2	23	Niccolò Antonelli	KTM	13	+4.146	2	20
3	12	Marco Bezzecchi	Mahindra	13	+5.013	4	16
4	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	13	+8.767	14	13
5	44	Arón Canet	Honda	13	+12.827	3	11
6	65	Philipp Öttl	KTM	13	+14.865	21	10
7	21	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda	13	+15.482	16	9
8	84	Jakub Kornfeil	Peugeot	13	+15.625	19	8
9	64	Bo Bendsneyder	KTM	13	+15.947	11	7
10	17	John McPhee	Honda	13	+16.216	17	6
11	41	Nakarin Atiratphuvapat	Honda	13	+16.414	12	5
12	8	Nicolò Bulega	KTM	13	+18.783	1	4
13	16	Andrea Migno	KTM	13	+19.057	10	3
14	42	Marcos Ramírez	KTM	13	+19.536	22	2
15	88	Jorge Martín	Honda	13	+21.208	7	1
16	33	Enea Bastianini	Honda	13	+22.731	5
17	36	Joan Mir	Honda	13	+23.879	20 [N 1]
18	95	Jules Danilo	Honda	13	+23.935	23
19	11	Livio Loi	Honda	13	+33.663	15
20	40	Darryn Binder	KTM	13	+34.695	25
21	27	Kaito Toba	Honda	13	+39.533	27
22	4	Patrik Pulkkinen	Peugeot	13	+48.473	28
23	14	Tony Arbolino	Honda	13	+1:30.837	29
24	70	Tom Toparis	KTM	13	+2:18.580	30
Ret	58	Juan Francisco Guevara	KTM	11	Accident	18
Ret	19	Gabriel Rodrigo	KTM	9	Collision	8
Ret	71	Ayumu Sasaki	Honda	9	Collision	24
Ret	7	Adam Norrodin	Honda	6	Accident	13
Ret	96	Manuel Pagliani	Mahindra	1	Accident	9
Ret	48	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Mahindra	0	Engine	26
DNS	75	Albert Arenas	Mahindra		Did not start
OFFICIAL MOTO3 REPORT

• Albert Arenas suffered a broken right hand in a crash during qualifying and withdrew from the event.

Championship standings after the race

MotoGP

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round fifteen has concluded. ^[13]

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Marc Márquez 244 2 Andrea Dovizioso 233 3 Maverick Viñales 203 4 Dani Pedrosa 170 5 Valentino Rossi 168

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Honda 294 2 Ducati 273 3 Yamaha 265 4 Suzuki 77 5 Aprilia 64

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Moto2

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Franco Morbidelli	256
2	Thomas Lüthi	237
3	Álex Márquez	180
4	Miguel Oliveira	166
5	Francesco Bagnaia	146
6	Mattia Pasini	135
7	Takaaki Nakagami	128
8	Simone Corsi	96
9	Hafizh Syahrin	86
10	Xavi Vierge	79

Moto3

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Joan Mir	271
2	Romano Fenati	216
3	Arón Canet	184
4	Fabio Di Giannantonio	146
5	Jorge Martín	135
6	John McPhee	112
7	Marcos Ramírez	107
8	Andrea Migno	106
9	Enea Bastianini	103
10	Philipp Öttl	101

Notes

References