MotoGP Grand Prix of Malaysia 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso grabbed his first MotoGP win since 2009 on Sunday, beating Valentino Rossi of Movistar Yamaha to the finish line at the 2016 Malaysia Grand Prix.

Dovizioso was the fastest man in a rain-soaked race that saw both world champion Marc Marquez and Andrea Iannone crash out of the front group after impressing early. Jorge Lorenzo was the main beneficiary of those crashes, as he was able to limit the damage in the overall standings.

It wasn't good enough to keep the race for second place alive, however, as Rossi's second-placed finish in Malaysia means the veteran's lead in the standings can no longer be bridged with just one race left.

Here's a look at the results from Sunday's race:

Pos.	Points	Rider	Nation	Team	Time/Gap
1	25	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	42'27.333
2	20	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	+3.115
3	16	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	+11.924
4	13	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	+19.916
5	11	Loris BAZ	FRA	Avintia Racing	+21.353
6	10	Maverick VINALES	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	+22.932
7	9	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	+25.829
8	8	Jack MILLER	AUS	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	+32.746
9	7	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+33.704
10	6	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	OCTO Pramac Yakhnich	+34.280
11	5	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	+36.480
12	4	Eugene LAVERTY	IRL	Pull & Bear Aspar Team	+36.638
13	3	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	+36.897
14	2	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+45.609
15	1	Scott REDDING	GBR	OCTO Pramac Yakhnich	+49.779
16		Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Repsol Honda Team	+52.665
17		Stefan BRADL	GER	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	+52.784
18		Tito RABAT	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	+54.891
Not Classified
29		Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Ducati Team	7 Laps
35		Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	8 Laps
68		Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Pull & Bear Aspar Team	8 Laps

The current MotoGP standings:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	278
2	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	236
3	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	208
4	Maverick VINALES	Suzuki	SPA	191
5	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	162
6	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	155
7	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	141
8	Pol ESPARGARO	Yamaha	SPA	124
9	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	97
10	Andrea IANNONE	Ducati	ITA	96
11	Aleix ESPARGARO	Suzuki	SPA	85
12	Eugene LAVERTY	Ducati	IRL	77
13	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Aprilia	SPA	76
14	Scott REDDING	Ducati	GBR	72
15	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	71
16	Stefan BRADL	Aprilia	GER	60
17	Jack MILLER	Honda	AUS	56
18	Bradley SMITH	Yamaha	GBR	55
19	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	36
20	Loris BAZ	Ducati	FRA	35
21	Tito RABAT	Honda	SPA	29
22	Yonny HERNANDEZ	Ducati	COL	20
23	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	Yamaha	JPN	5
24	Alex LOWES	Yamaha	GBR	3
25	Hiroshi AOYAMA	Honda	JPN	1
26	Nicky HAYDEN	Honda	USA	1
27	Mike JONES	Ducati	AUS	1

As shared by Crash.net MotoGP, heavy rains delayed the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix and left the track soaking wet:

Rossi even made the decision to change bikes, as the tricky conditions wreaked havoc on the field before the race even started. Race officials also decided to reduce the race by one lap when the clouds finally cleared.

Lorenzo took the lead into Turn 1 ahead of Marquez, Dovizioso and Rossi, but the opening lap soon turned into a hectic affair, with overtakes left and right. In the blink of an eye, Marquez took the lead and Rossi moved up to second, as Lorenzo's wet-weather struggles showed once again.

MOHD RASFAN/Getty Images

It was Dovizioso who eventually emerged at the front of the pack ahead of Rossi, while Lorenzo fell all the way back to sixth place by the end of Lap 1. Iannone soon pushed himself into second place past Dovizioso, who had lost the lead to Rossi.

Crash.net MotoGP shared this photo of Iannone's overtake for first, in which you can clearly see how wet some parts of the track still were:

The four leaders held a gap of over a second on Lorenzo entering Lap 4 and swiftly started to build their lead, the perfect scenario for Rossi with an eye on the race for second place. Even Cal Crutchlow passed Lorenzo, who finally found his groove and joined the top-six riders after four laps.

Rossi and Iannone had their own private battle at the front, as shared by MotoGP's official Twitter account:

Iannone seemed to hit back every time Rossi took the upper hand, with several lead changes over the course of just a few laps.

At the halfway point of the race, Lorenzo was losing ground fast on the leaders, as he sat 2.5 seconds behind Marquez. Of the front-runners, the world champion was the fastest, although he sat half a second behind Rossi, Iannone and Dovizioso.

The rain had served up few surprises up until that point, but that was about to change. First, Marquez lost the front of his bike on Turn 11, crashing out of fourth place, before Iannone's hard work became undone at the front, per Crash.net MotoGP:

Not only was the crash a big blow for the Italian―it also put Lorenzo back on the virtual podium, with such a result having huge championship implications.

At the front, Dovizioso passed Rossi and immediately pushed his lead up to several seconds, and he cruised to the win from that point. Rossi hung on to his second place, meaning Lorenzo's efforts were all for naught, per Crash.net MotoGP:

Per Crash.net, Dovizioso couldn't believe he finally won his first race since 2009, saying: "It was 2009, a long time! The victory has always been different. I really wanted it! I'm so happy for the team. Ducati has worked so hard in the last four years."

The Valencia Grand Prix is the final race left on the calendar, and with the two top spots in the standings already confirmed, the field will mostly be racing for honours.