Francesco Bagnaia secured a thrilling victory at the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix, successfully fending off a late challenge from rival Jorge Martin. This win marked Bagnaia’s eighth Grand Prix victory of the season, placing him among legendary figures like Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, and Marc Marquez.
Bagnaia, starting from pole position, swiftly took the lead at Turn 1, overtaking Pedro Acosta, who had qualified first. He maintained control throughout the race, leading every lap. Martin, who started in 11th, made an impressive early surge, moving up five places in the first sector and overtaking both Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini to settle into fourth.
The race witnessed early drama as Joan Mir and Alex Marquez crashed out on the first lap, with Mir’s incident involving his Gresini bike. Following a challenging qualification, Jack Miller moved up to fifth place but was soon overtaken by Marquez, who executed a clever maneuver on Lap 5. Meanwhile, Acosta, who was in second place, crashed while trying to recover from the gravel trap, forcing him to retire after rejoining far behind the leaders.
As the race progressed, Bagnaia established a comfortable 1.2-second lead over Martin by the fifth lap, with Marquez trailing further behind. Augusto Fernandez’s crash meant that both Gas KTM riders ended the race without scoring points. Bastian managed to pass Brad Binder for fourth but was unable to hold the position for long as Marquez soon passed him as well.
Midway through the race, the weather conditions became uncertain, prompting stewards to announce that riders could switch bikes if necessary. Martin began to close the gap to Bagnaia, reducing it to 0.9 seconds, while both riders maintained significantly quicker lap times compared to the rest of the field. Despite a challenging race for Maverick Vinales, who crashed out, Bagnaia remained focused and composed.
As the race entered its final third, Bagnaia appeared increasingly comfortable in front, extending his lead to 1.8 seconds. However, Martin managed to chip away at the gap, cutting it down to just under a second by Lap 21. Ducati provided Bagnaia with updates, and the champion responded by widening the gap once more to 1.6 seconds, ultimately securing the victory.
With this win, Bagnaia narrowed the championship deficit to Martin to just 10 points. The podium was rounded out by Marquez, with Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, despite Morbidelli finishing over 13 seconds behind his Ducati counterparts. Binder earned KTM’s best finish of sixth, while VR46 riders Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio had a solid outing, contributing to a strong performance for Ducati, with all eight of their bikes finishing in the top eight positions.
Aleix Espargaro finished ninth, narrowly defeating Miller, while Johann Zarco placed 11th. Fabio Quartararo struggled to secure a competitive position, finishing in 12th, and Takaaki Nakagami concluded his final Japanese Grand Prix with points for his home team. Luca Marini finished 14th, while Raul Fernandez and Alex Rins rounded out the final classification.
Overall, Bagnaia’s commanding performance solidified his status as a formidable contender in the championship race, as he continues to pursue his goal of reclaiming the title.
