MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix 2015 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Dani Pedrosa won the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi on Sunday as he claimed his first race win since August last year.

The Spaniard started back in sixth on the grid, but finished ahead of Valentino Rossi in second and Jorge Lorenzo in third as the Italian extended his lead at the top of the standings by four points.

BT Sport MotoGP shared Pedrosa's memorable victory:

Read on for the full results of the race, a recap of the thrilling action and how Sunday's drama affected the overall standings.

Pos.	Points	Rider	Nation	Team	Time/Gap
1	25	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	46'50.767
2	20	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	+8.573
3	16	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	+12.127
4	13	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	+27.841
5	11	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	+35.085
6	10	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	+37.263
7	9	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+37.667
8	8	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	JPN	Yamaha Factory Racing Team	+44.654
9	7	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	+48.572
10	6	Scott REDDING	GBR	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	+50.121
11	5	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	+1'00.535
12	4	Takumi TAKAHASHI	JPN	Team HRC with Nissin	+1'01.211
13	3	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Aspar MotoGP Team	+1'11.261
14	2	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Octo Pramac Racing	+1'13.896
15	1	Mike DI MEGLIO	FRA	Avintia Racing	+1'15.421
16		Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	+1'20.507
17		Eugene LAVERTY	IRL	Aspar MotoGP Team	+1'31.224
18		Stefan BRADL	GER	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	+1'46.833
19		Kousuke AKIYOSHI	JPN	AB Motoracing	+2'00.072
20		Toni ELIAS	SPA	Forward Racing	1 Lap

There was drama from the very start of the race as Rossi—starting behind Lorenzo in second—overtook the Spaniard into the first turn, only to be passed again on the second, per BT Sport MotoGP:

Meanwhile, Pedrosa shot from sixth straight up to third place but was soon overtaken by Andrea Dovizioso.

Lorenzo quickly opened up a lead of over three seconds on his team-mate, who in turn pulled a second ahead of his compatriot.

Pedrosa slowly but steadily reeled in Dovizioso as the Italian struggled to keep pace, and passed him at Turn 10 on the 12th lap when he ran wide. The Spaniard was setting the fastest times of any rider—almost one second quicker than Rossi, per MotoGP:

With eight laps to go, Pedrosa overcame the Italian, and tension began to mount as Lorenzo's previously unchallenged lead was now under serious threat, particularly due to his increasingly deteriorating front tyre:

From there it was only a matter of time and just two laps later Pedrosa was in the lead, and Rossi followed suit shortly after in overtaking his team-mate, who ran wide at Turn 3.

There would be no more changes to the podium places in the last four laps, but Lorenzo was fortunate to hold a 13-second lead over Marc Marquez and Dovizioso, or his day could have gotten much worse.

According to Crash.net, he said:

"It's a real pity because today if the track didn't dry I would have won. Maybe the beginning push makes my front tyre worse. There was a dry line and I couldn't follow them. I just had to survive. Now there is only one target and that is to win the three races. Let's see if we can do it."

Here are the overall standings following the race:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Points
1	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	283
2	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	265
3	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	197
4	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	172
5	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	154
6	Bradley SMITH	GBR	152
7	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	150
8	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	98
9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	93
10	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	88

Rossi now leads the championship with just three races to go, meaning that three race wins for Lorenzo still might not be enough.

However, with crashes and technical difficulties always a possibility, not to mention the likes of Pedrosa and Marquez who can contest the top positions alongside them, it's still possible for the Spaniard to make serious gains on his team-mate if events conspire to allow him a win and Rossi to finish outside the top three in Australia next time out.