Johann Zarco, who has finished runner-up six-times this s𒉰eason, finally claimed his first ever grand prix victory at Motegi in Japan on Sunday.

Pole sitter Zarco briefly droꦅpped to third behind the Aspar Aprilias of Nico Terol and Hector Faubel early in the race, before♔ Zarco and championship leader Terol broke away.

Zarco then took the lead on lap 14 of 20, with Terol handing the Ajo Derbi rider a 1.3sec advantage when he made a small mistake under braking with four laps remainin🙈g.

Terol, who has won eight ra�෴�ces this year, then backed off - later saying his tyre was finished - leaving Zarco to end his victory 'curse' in style with a 5.9sec advantage.

Zarco's 2011 near misses include throwin💦g away victory at Misano when he turned to look at Terol out of the final turn - rather than racing for the line - and being denied by a post-race penalty at ꧙Catalunya, a tie-break at Sachsenring and a last turn showdown at Brno!

Showing he had learnt his lesson from Misano, 21-year-old Zarco kept his head down behind the fairing and didn't look back until crossing the line in Japan, despite the huge lead! Faubel took thir🏅d place, albeit over 13sec from victory.

Race-winning rookie Maverick Vin✅ales was forced to surrender his fourth-place start after pre-race chain troubles left him last on the grid.

The Paris 𓃲Hilton Aprilia star channelled his frustration into an impr⭕essive charge that saw him 23rd by the end of lap one, into the top ten on lap 4 and fourth by lap 14.

The Spaniard then faced a near nine-se🐭cond gap to Hector Faubel, but still didn't give up and was 2.586sec from a place on the podium at the chequered flag.

Terol now leads the championship by a reduced 31 points from Zarco with th𝐆re🌄e rounds to go.

Race results:

1. Zarco (Derbi) 20 laps
2. Terol (Aprilia) +5.900s
3. Faubel (Aprilia) +13.605s
4. Vinales (Aprilia) +16.191s
5. Cortese (Aprilia) +23.422s
6. Folger (Aprilia) +23.661s
7. Moncayo (Aprilia) +24.034s
8. Martin (Aprilia) +24.171s
9. Kent (Aprilia) +49.118s
10. Tonucci (Aprilia) +51.393s

14. Stafford (Aprilia) +1m 5.606s
Webb (Mahindra) DNF
Mackenzie (Aprilia) DNF