Honda rider Dani Pedrosa won Sunday’s Aragon MotoGP in north-east Spain, closing the gap to championship leader Jorge Lorenzo.
The Yamaha rider finished second in the race and now leads fellow Spaniard Pedrosa by 33 points with four races remaining.
Injured Australian Casey Stoner remains third and is expected to be back on his Honda for the next round in Japan.
But Stoner is just seven points ahead of Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso, who finished third in the Aragon race.