Francesco Bagnaia has gained floor within the MotoGP championship after profitable the Japanese Dash the place rookie Pedro Acosta threw away victory.
With championship chief Jorge Martin recovering to fourth from eleventh on the grid, Bagnaia gained six factors with victory over teammate Enea Bastianini in Motegi.
Nonetheless, the stage seemed set for Acosta to take a uncommon non-Ducati win and first P1 of his spectacular rookie season, solely to crash three laps from dwelling.
Australia’s Jack Miller made a quick begin to rise from 14th to ninth.
Bagnaia, Acosta and Bastianini went three huge into flip 1 and the manufacturing unit Ducatis took cost with the #1 in P1.
Though Bastianini flew into second by charging across the exterior of flip 1, he ran huge at Flip 5 and sacrificed second to Acosta, who was placing stress on the chief.
As Maverick Vinales slumped from the entrance row to eleventh, Miller charged up 5 spots to ninth, whereas Joan Mir had one other crash on the Repsol Honda.
Importantly Marc Marquez fought his well beyond Martin to take fourth on the highway, which might turn into the ultimate spot on the rostrum.
By the beginning of Lap 3 Acosta was piling the stress on Bagnaia and once more selected Flip 5 as his launching pad.
This time there was no mistake from the manufacturing unit Ducati rider as Acosta caught Bagnaia napping with a effectively executed dive down the within.
On the identical second Brad Binder dropped out of rivalry with mechanical dramas having run within the prime 5.
The LCR Honda riders took one another out with Johann Zarco leaning on the within, however nudging Takaaki Nakagami into retirement.
Acosta constructed a six-tenth lead over Bagnaia by Lap 9 and seemed on target to take a well-known success.
Nonetheless, everybody’s head was of their palms together with Acosta’s when the 20-year-old misplaced the entrance into Flip 7 and slid into the gravel.
It was a heartbreaking second for the rookie, who pushed a contact too onerous, capturing seven tenths within the first two sectors of Lap 9, earlier than the entrance gave away simply because the commentators mentioned “he has not put a foot flawed.”
Because of this, Bagnaia was gifted the race lead and loved a half a second benefit over his teammate.
Though Bastainini got here inside a tenth and the Marquez even obtained previous the #23, the highest three remained the identical.
Marquez and Bastianini had an exhilarating alternate on the penultimate lap and it was finally settled with a daring transfer by the Italian at Flip 12.
The 2024 Japanese Motorbike Grand Prix begins at 16.00 AEST Sunday afternoon.
2024 Japanese Motorbike Grand Prix Dash outcomes
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Group | Time/Diff |
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | 21m 1.074s |
| 2 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | +0.181s |
| 3 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | +0.349s |
| 4 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | +2.498s |
| 5 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | +4.326s |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | +4.446s |
| 7 | Alex Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | +11.444s |
| 8 | Jack Miller | AUS | Purple Bull KTM (RC16) | +11.875s |
| 9 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +11.947s |
| 10 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | +12.299s |
| 11 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) | +14.559s |
| 12 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +14.645s |
| 13 | Luca Marini | ITA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +15.886s |
| 14 | Johann Zarco | FRA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +16.170s |
| 15 | Augusto Fernandez | SPA | Purple Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) | +20.522s |
| 16 | Alex Rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +24.415s |
| 17 | Lorenzo Savadori | ITA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +25.482s |
| 18 | Remy Gardner | AUS | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +32.620s |
| Joan Mir | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | DNF | |
| Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | DNF | |
| Pedro Acosta | SPA | Purple Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16)* | DNF | |
| Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | DNF | |
| Brad Binder | RSA | Purple Bull KTM (RC16) | DNF |
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