Marc M\u00e1rquez claimed a commanding victory in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, finishing ahead of Jorge Mart\u00edn and Marco Bezzecchi. The result is particularly important for the championship, with M\u00e1rquez cutting Mart\u00edn\u2019s lead to just two points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mart\u00edn made the best start from pole position and led into the first corner, with M\u00e1rquez and Bezzecchi behind him. Pedro Acosta lost several positions immediately, while \u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez moved into fourth early in the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tyre choice was a major factor. Following concerns about rear-tyre overheating during Saturday’s Sprint, the soft rear tyre was not available, meaning all riders opted for the hard compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mart\u00edn initially appeared comfortable at the front, setting a strong pace. Acosta, meanwhile, began losing ground and was overtaken by Enea Bastianini before dropping further down the order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a cautious opening phase, M\u00e1rquez began to turn up the pace. On lap four he set the fastest lap, while Bezzecchi remained close to the two leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bezzecchi briefly responded with the fastest lap himself, but M\u00e1rquez continued closing on Mart\u00edn. By the following lap, the Ducati rider had reduced the gap from around half a second to just over three tenths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The race then lost Diogo Moreira, who crashed at Turn 9 on lap nine. The Brazilian had achieved his first MotoGP podium in Saturday’s Sprint but was unable to finish Sunday’s race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the front, Mart\u00edn and M\u00e1rquez continued increasing their pace, while Bezzecchi began to struggle and lost some ground after running wide at Turn 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez gradually closed in on Mart\u00edn before making his decisive attack on lap 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ducati rider braked extremely late into Turn 9 and successfully passed Mart\u00edn for the lead. Mart\u00edn attempted to respond immediately, but on the following lap he ran onto the green at the exit of the same corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That allowed M\u00e1rquez to establish a gap. By lap 16, the advantage was approaching one second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Behind them, Bezzecchi began closing back in on Mart\u00edn, bringing the battle for second place back to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acosta also launched an important recovery, passing Ai Ogura at Turn 10 to move into sixth and rejoin the fight for the top five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With six laps remaining, M\u00e1rquez effectively secured control of the race by setting another fastest lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fight behind him remained intense, particularly for the final podium position. Enea Bastianini was one of the strongest riders in the closing stages, pushing hard from fourth place and setting the fastest lap on lap 20 before improving it again one lap later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several incidents then changed the complexion of the race. \u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco all crashed separately in the closing stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the start of the final lap, Bastianini was extremely close to Bezzecchi and had a realistic chance of taking third. However, he nearly made contact with the Aprilia rider at Turn 10, losing his opportunity to challenge for the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez comfortably crossed the finish line to take a major victory at Motegi, with Mart\u00edn second and Bezzecchi third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bastianini finished fourth, just missing the podium. Ra\u00fal Fern\u00e1ndez took fifth after a close battle involving teammate Ai Ogura and Pedro Acosta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acosta eventually finished seventh, while Francesco Bagnaia crossed the line eighth. Ferm\u00edn Aldeguer and Luca Marini completed the top ten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The victory gives M\u00e1rquez another major boost in the championship fight. Mart\u00edn remains the leader, but the gap has now been reduced to only two points, with M\u00e1rquez on 331 and Mart\u00edn on 333 after Motegi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, M\u00e1rquez’s Motegi performance was built around patience, tyre management and a perfectly timed attack on Mart\u00edn. He waited for the right opportunity, made the decisive move at Turn 9 and then controlled the race to the chequered flag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marc M\u00e1rquez claimed a commanding victory in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, finishing ahead of Jorge Mart\u00edn and Marco Bezzecchi. The result is particularly important for the championship, with M\u00e1rquez cutting Mart\u00edn\u2019s lead to just two points. Mart\u00edn made the best start from pole position and led into the first corner, with M\u00e1rquez and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motogp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2122,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions\/2122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}