Dani Pedrosa claimed his third race win of the season as Marc Marquez closed in on a rookie title after an entertaining opening stoush at the Malaysian MotoGP.
Pedrosa beat Marquez with Jorge Lorenzo claiming third to realise a Spanish trifecta.
While Lorenzo seized the early advantage, it was Pedrosa who clearly had the pace to lead, even if he could not manage to do so until edging past the defending world champion with light contact on lap 5.
From there, Pedrosa set about gapping the chasing pack as Lorenzo attended to more pressing issues, namely Marquez.
The two traded second position several times until the championship leader took the place for good on lap 9, also pulling away from his compatriot.
Valentino Rossi ultimately ran much of the race on his own in fourth, after being involved in a vigorous fight with his fellow factory riders and Alvaro Bautista during the opening stages.
Bautista rounded out the top five after the 20 laps.
Australia’s contingent failed to score points with Bryan Staring last of the finishers in 18th and Damian Cudlin one of five retirements after seven laps.
The championship lead for Marquez has grown to 43 points over Lorenzo ahead of next weekend’s Tissot Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island, the third-last round of the 2013 championship.
See below for full results
| 1 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | 20 | 40:45.191 |
| 2 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 20 | 2.757 |
| 3 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 20 | 6.669 |
| 4 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 20 | 10.351 |
| 5 | Alvaro Bautista | Honda | 20 | 22.149 |
| 6 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | 20 | 22.301 |
| 7 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | 20 | 30.864 |
| 8 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 20 | 45.111 |
| 9 | Aleix Espargaró | ART/Aprilia | 20 | 59.264 |
| 10 | Yonny Hernández | Ducati | 20 | 1:01.417 |
| 11 | Hiroshi Aoyama | FTR/Kawasaki | 20 | 1:03.665 |
| 12 | Randy de Puniet | ART/Aprilia | 20 | 1:14.256 |
| 13 | Claudio Corti | FTR Kawasaki | 20 | 1:21.603 |
| 14 | Héctor Barberá | FTR/Kawasaki | 20 | 1:27.976 |
| 15 | Colin Edwards | FTR Kawasaki | 20 | 1:29.442 |
| 16 | Danilo Petrucci | Ioda-Suter/BMW | 20 | 1:29.551 |
| 17 | Luca Scassa | ART/Aprilia | 20 | 1:47.930 |
| 18 | Bryan Staring | FTR Honda | 20 | 1:52.927 |
| – | Michael Laverty | ART/Aprilia | 12 | Retirement |
| – | Lukas Pesek | Ioda-Suter/BMW | 11 | Retirement |
| – | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | 8 | Retirement |
| – | Damian Cudlin | PBM/Aprilia | 7 | Retirement |
| – | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 6 | Retirement |
| – | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 0 | Withdrawn |
See below for points standings
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