Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo has reignited his bid to defend the Moto GP world crown with victory in San Marino, the 13th leg of the 18-race championship.
Lorenzo, winning at the Misano circuit for the third successive season, finished ahead of championship leader Marc Marquez with Honda teammate and Spanish compatriot Dani Pedrosa in third.
Italy’s Valentino Rossi finished fourth on a Yamaha.
Lorenzo came to the Italian circuit hoping to make it three in a row and declaring he was fighting fit following a crash in June and subsequent surgery on a broken collarbone.
And he let Marquez know of his intentions from the outset, powering his Yamaha from second place on the grid behind his fellow Spaniard into first place on the opening lap.
From then on, Lorenzo led the race and steadily opened up a gap on Marquez and Pedrosa, who went on to engage in a thrilling battle for second place in the closing laps.
Lorenzo’s 49th career win, and 28th in the sport’s premier category, allowed him to pull level in the championship race with second-placed Pedrosa. Both now have a deficit of 34 points to Marquez with five races remaining.
The 14th race of the season is the Aragon GP in Spain on September 29, with the season finale in Valencia on November 10 following races in Malaysia, Australia and Japan.
Rossi’s return to his home circuit, meanwhile, failed to end in glory for the seven-time champion at the World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, renamed in honour of Rossi’s close friend who died following a crash at the 2011 Malaysian MotoGP.