Motegi Moto2: Marquez wins, Morbidelli extends points lead

The shortened 15-lap race was led for much of the way by local hero Takaaki Nakagami, who converted pole position into an early lead ahead of Xavi Vierge and Mattia Pasini.

Marquez dropped from second to fourth on the opening lap, but soon settled into his rhythm and was back to his starting position by the end of the second tour.

Nakagami was able to keep Marquez a safe distance behind until around halfway, when the latter began to close on the MotoGP-bound Honda protege.

The Japanese rider managed to stave off an attack by Marquez on the ninth lap, but was powerless to prevent the Spaniard from coming through at Turn 11 two laps later.

From there, Marquez was able to reel off the remaining laps for his first win since June's Barcelona race and the eighth of his grand prix career.

After losing the lead, Nakagami began to fade dramatically, and was passed for second by Tech 3 rider Vierge with four laps to go before being demoted by a charging Hafizh Syahrin later that lap.

Petronas rider Syahrin looked to have the pace to challenge Marquez in the closing laps, but couldn't clear Vierge, who scored his first-ever grand prix podium in second.

Behind Syahrin, Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing VR46) made a late surge to fourth place ahead of Pasini, both of whom passed Nakagami on the final lap.

From 15th on the grid, points leader Morbidelli recovered to finish eighth, one place behind KTM rider Miguel Oliveira and 11.4s down on teammate Marquez at the finish.

With nearest rival and future MotoGP teammate Thomas Luthi only managing 11th, it means Morbidelli carries a lead of 24 points into the final three races of the season.

Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer) and Luca Baldassarri (Forward) completed the top 10 finishers.

 Race results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Gap
1	73	Alex Marquez	Kalex	32'08.901
2	97	Xavi Vierge	Tech 3	1.465
3	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Kalex	3.134
4	42	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	5.415
5	54	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	5.618
6	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	6.163
7	44	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	7.597
8	21	Franco Morbidelli	Kalex	11.400
9	77	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	11.572
10	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	14.310
11	12	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	26.571
12	87	Remy Gardner	Tech 3	30.183
13	23	Marcel Schrötter	Suter	30.597
14	33	Ikuhiro Enokido	Kalex	32.037
15	6	Tarran Mackenzie	Suter	35.252
16	37	Augusto Fernandez	Speed Up	38.385
17	27	Iker Lecuona	Kalex	40.934
18	49	Axel Pons	Kalex	41.470
19	40	Fabio Quartararo	Kalex	42.757
20	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	43.147
21	24	Simone Corsi	Speed Up	45.410
22	34	Ryo Mizuno	Kalex	46.813
23	89	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	50.531
24	32	Isaac Viñales	Kalex	51.898
25	2	Jesko Raffin	Kalex	53.699
26	62	Stefano Manzi	Kalex	1'01.051
27	57	Edgar Pons	Kalex	1'04.776
28	9	Jorge Navarro	Kalex	1'07.423
Ret	41	Brad Binder	KTM	8 laps
Ret	5	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	9 laps
Ret	11	Sandro Cortese	Suter	9 laps
Ret	19	Xavier Simeon	Kalex	10 laps
Ret	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	14 laps