Bagnaia wins ‘tremendous boring’ Motegi MotoGP race, Acosta down once more

Pecco Bagnaia accomplished the double on the Japanese Grand Prix to scale back his championship hole to Jorge Martin to simply 10 factors with 4 rounds remaining.

The Ducati rider took his eighth Sunday win of the season – a private document and probably the most for one rider since 2019 – after a superb begin noticed him declare the lead out of Flip 1.

The reigning champion managed the race thereafter, and regardless of Pramac rider Martin closing within the later levels, the Spaniard was unable to match Bagnaia’s tempo.

After additionally profitable the dash on Saturday, Bagnaia now sits 10 factors behind Martin because the season reaches its climax.

Japanese GP classification

1 – Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)
2 – Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati)
3 – Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati)
4 – Enea Bastianini (Ducati)
5 – Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati)
6 – Brad Binder (KTM)
7 – Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati)
8 – Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati)
9 – Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia)
10 – Jack Miller (KTM)
11 – Johann Zarco (LCR Honda)
12 – Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)
13 – Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda)
14 – Luca Marini (Honda)
15 – Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia)
16 – Alex Rins (Yamaha)
17 – Remy Gardner (Yamaha)
DNFs: Pedro Acosta (Tech3 Fuel Fuel), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 Fuel Fuel), Lorenzo Savadori (Trackhouse Aprilia), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Joan Mir (Honda)

Martin, who lined up eleventh after a crash in qualifying, was as much as sixth off the road, shortly passing these forward to maneuver into third on lap three.

A second crash in as many days for poleman Pedro Acosta (Tech3 KTM) promoted Martin to second, with the hole between him and Bagnaia round 1.2s for a lot of the following laps.

The white flag was waved on lap 10 amid a threat of rain, with Bagnaia extending his result in as a lot as 1.8s earlier than Martin bounced again.

Closing the hole to below a second within the closing 4 laps, a late cost from Martin was curtailed by a few “moments” that satisfied him to accept second.

Marc Marquez accomplished the rostrum for Gresini for his second third-place end of the weekend, having lined up ninth after a expensive observe limits breach had robbed him of pole in Q2.

Whereas Bagnaia received the bounce on Acosta off the road, Marquez had made up locations to fifth regardless of being bumped by Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.

Each manufacturing unit KTMs had robust begins, with Brad Binder as much as third off the road as team-mate Jack Miller shot from 14th to fifth.

Joan Mir and Gresini’s Alex Marquez had been each out on the finish of lap one after the youthful Marquez crashed into the rear of the beleaguered Honda rider.

Martin took third from Binder on lap three, whereas Marquez handed Miller for fifth up the within of Flip 7 earlier than Acosta’s crash at Flip 14. The Tech3 rider additionally crashed out of the lead throughout Saturday’s dash.

Marquez then made it previous Binder at Flip 5 in a trademark block cross. Manufacturing facility Ducati rider Enea Bastianini then set about making an attempt to cross the South African – a process which ultimately took him till lap 10.

Bagnaia’s hole to Martin was as much as 1.2s by lap 13, with 3.2s from the Spaniard to Marquez, who confronted a late problem from Bastianini – closing the hole to simply 0.6s throughout the subsequent 5 laps, aided by a Marquez error.

Regardless of this, Marquez would describe the race as “tremendous boring” from his perspective – as Bastianini by no means received nearer.

Martin’s team-mate Franco Morbidelli had powered previous Binder for fifth, the pair adopted throughout the end line by the VR46 Ducati duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Aleix Espargaro completed ninth for Aprilia forward of Miller, with Johann Zarco in eleventh for LCR after Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ran out of fuel on the finish of the ultimate lap.

Zarco’s team-mate Takaaki Nakagami was thirteenth at his closing residence look as a full-time rider, with Luca Marini (Honda) and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez rounding off the factors.

Crashes additionally got here for Vinales, who had lined up third earlier than dropping again early on and sliding off at Flip 5 on lap 12, and Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez. Aprilia check rider Lorenzo Savadori retired on the finish of lap two.