Honda’s Dani Pedrosa celebrated a ‘special’ victory at the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang to secure his third victory of the campaign, closing the gap to fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in second place in the championship standings to 11 points.

It was Pedrosa’s second successive victory at the Malaysian circuit after he also took the spoils in 2012.

The Spanish rider made amends after his championship hopes went up in smoke at Aragon in the previous round, where Pedrosa was fired off his Repsol Honda following contact with team-mate Marc Marquez, which disabled the traction control on his RC213V.

Pedrosa, though, has put the incident behind him and is now looking ahead to the final three races at Phillip Island, Motegi and Valencia.

“I am very happy with this win, as it is very special. My level of riding today was very good and the victory comes after a difficult week – in which I was laid up in bed and could hardly move,” he said.

“To come here and win is fantastic, so thanks to all my team.

“It hasn’t been the best week but we can’t look back any more. It’s just a shame because we had a similar pace at the last race at Aragon so it could have been two in a row.”

Pedrosa took the lead from Jorge Lorenzo at the end of lap five and went on to win by 2.7 seconds from Marquez, who increased his lead at the top of the series table to 43 points over Lorenzo.

“Today was a good day. We had a good pace and I enjoyed a lot riding at the front. My bike was working well. Both tyres were slippery but I could ride well all weekend.

“The first laps are always key, but I wanted to check the track a little and see how it feels. After that Jorge was also going fast but I tried to go in front and make a gap. I felt confident and had a good lead by the end, so I could manage and control the pace.

“The tyres were sliding a lot. It was nice!”

Not so nice are Pedrosa’s championship chances. Despite the win he is 54 points from Marquez with just 75 still available.

“With Marc finishing on the podium every time it is very hard to take back any points. Focusing on each race is what we have to do.”

MotoGP results from Sepang, Malaysia:

1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 40m 45.191s
2. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 40m 47.948s
3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 40m 51.860s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 40m 55.542s
5. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 41m 7.340s
6. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 41m 7.492s
7. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 41m 16.055s
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 41m 30.302s
9. Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 41m 44.455s
10. Yonny Hernandez COL Ignite Pramac Racing (GP13) 41m 46.608s
11. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 41m 48.856s
12. Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 41m 59.447s
13. Claudio Corti ITA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 42m 6.794s
14. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 42m 13.167s
15. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 42m 14.633s
16. Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* 42m 14.742s
17. Luca Scassa ITA Cardion AB Motoracing (ART CRT) 42m 33.121s
18. Bryan Staring AUS Go&Fun Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) 42m 38.118s

Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) DNF
Lukas Pesek CZE Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* DNF
Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) DNF
Damian Cudlin AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART CRT)* DNF
Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) DNF
* Standard ECU.

Championship standings:

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