Andrea Iannone won his third race of the Moto2 season in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, but second place for Marc Marquez was enough to take the world championship lead from Stefan Bradl.
Starting from the outside of the front row, Iannone led the majority of the race - only briefly losing out to Marquez on lap 8 (of 23) and then again with five laps to go, when Iannone's engine momentarily cut-out while holding a 0.8sec advantage.
But the Speed Master rider soon retook the lead and rode to a 1.999sec victory over the Repsol Suter rider, who has moved to the head of the Moto2 standings by just a single point.
Bradl, who had led the championship since the start of the season, spent the first half of the race alongside Iannone, Marquez and Simone Corsi in the lead group.
The Kalex rider made a fleeting appearance in second, ahead of Marquez, but by the closing stages the top two had broken away from the German, who was left to defend third against Corsi (FTR), Thomas Luthi (Suter) and
Alex de Angelis (MotoBI).
Luthi, fastest in two of the free practice sessions, and Corsi both overtook Bradl, but the #65 regained fourth with a last lap lunge on Corsi. Luthi - who finished on the podium at the first two rounds, but has been absent since - crossed the line 1.6sec from Marquez for the Interwetten Suter team.
Bradley Smith finished in seventh place for Tech 3, almost six-seconds from de Angelis, after just holding off Dominique Aegerter (Suter) and Esteve Rabat (FTR).
Sergio Gadea, who spent most of this season riding for Paris Hilton Aprilia in the 125cc class, missed the race due to internal injuries sustained in practice.
Race results:1. Iannone (Suter) 23 laps
2. Marquez (Suter) +1.999s
3. Luthi (Suter) +3.686s
4. Bradl (Kalex) +4.313s
5. Corsi (FTR) +4.647s
6. de Angelis (MotoBI) +4.813s
7. Aegerter (Suter) +10.725s
8. Smith (Tech 3) +10.520s
9. Rabat (FTR) +11.387s
10. Kallio (Suter) +12.803s
20. Redding (Suter) +44.162s