Motorcycling: Spain's Pedrosa wins Malaysian GP

The two Spanish Honda teammates came in ahead of defending champion and compatriot Jorge Lorenzo on the Yamaha.

The win marks Pedrosa's third victory of the season. He also triumphed in Malaysia last year.

"It's a great feeling to be back," said Pedrosa, who crashed out in the last race in Spain. "I came back strong."

It was a hard-fought race for all three.

Rookie Marquez, 20, was on pole, but Lorenzo took the lead after starting from fourth place.

He in turn was overtaken by Pedrosa, who started from fifth, in lap 5.

This sparked a thrilling battle between Lorenzo and Marquez for second place.

Marquez, who Lorenzo knocked once, eventually gained the upper hand with 11 laps in the 20-lap race to go.

Lorenzo's teammate, seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi of Italy, finished fourth after starting from second place.

The world championship rankings remain unchanged with Marquez on top, followed by Lorenzo and Pedrosa.

Leading results from the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang on Sunday:

MotoGP:

1. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 40min 45.191sec, 2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 2.757sec, 3. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 6.669, 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 10.351, 5. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 22.149, 6. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) 22.301, 7. Bradley Smith (GBR/Yamaha) 30.864, 8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 45.111, 9. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aspar) 59.264, 10. Yonny Hernandez (COL/Aprilia) 1:01.417

Moto GP overall standings:

1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 298 pts, 2. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 255, 3. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 244, 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 198, 5. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) 166, 6. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 136, 7. Stefan Bradl (GER/Honda) 135, 8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 120, 9. Nicky Hayden (USA/Ducati) 102, 10. Bradley Smith (GBR/Yamaha) 89

Moto2 (shortened to 12 laps after crash):

1. Esteve Rabat (ESP/Kalex) 25min 45.411sec 2. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Kalex) at 1.563sec, 3. Thomas Luthi (SUI/Suter) 2.910, 4. Mika Kallio (FIN/Kalex) 4.814, 5. Dominique Aegerter (SUI/Suter) 7.352, 6. Johann Zarco (FRA/Suter) 9.790, 7. Scott Redding (GBR/Kalex) 9.840, 8. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 11.894, 9. Jordi Torres (ESP/Suter) 12.302, 10. Julian Simon (ESP/Kalex) 15.524

Moto2 overall standings:

1. Scott Redding (GBR/Kalex) 224 pts, 2. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Kalex) 215, 3. Esteve Rabat (ESP/Kalex) 196, 4. Mika Kallio (FIN/Kalex) 156, 5. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 138, 6. Dominique Aegerter (SUI/Suter) 133, 7. Johann Zarco (FRA/Suter) 123, 8. Thomas Luthi (SUI/Suter) 110, 9. Nicolas Terol (ESP/Suter) 108, 10. Jordi Torres (ESP/Suter) 90

Moto3:

1. Luis Salom (ESP/KTM) 40min 42.441sec 2. Alex Rins (ESP/KTM) at 0.069sec, 3. Miguel Oliveira (POR/Mahindra) 0.408, 4. Alex Marquez (ESP/KTM) 0.782, 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/KTM) 1.055, 6. Jack Miller (AUS/FTR Honda) 1.077, 7. Alexis Masbou (FRA/FTR Honda) 5.016, 8. Jonas Folger (GER/Kalex KTM) 6.277, 9. Romano Fenati (ITA/FTR Honda) 6.952, 10. Philipp Oettl (GER/KTM) 10.962

Moto3 overall standings: