Francesco Bagnaia delivered a remarkable performance at the Japanese Grand Prix, securing both the sprint race and the main event in a thrilling weekend of racing at Motegi. His victory tightened the MotoGP championship battle, reducing the gap between him and his main rival, Jorge Martín, to just 10 points with only four races left in the season.
Bagnaia, riding for Ducati, demonstrated his dominance early on, qualifying in second position after excelling in practice. He carried this momentum into Saturday’s sprint race, where he emerged victorious. Sunday’s race saw him quickly seize the lead from pole-sitter Pedro Acosta of Tech3-KTM. Acosta, however, crashed on the third lap while attempting to reclaim the top spot, leaving Bagnaia in a commanding position.
Jorge Martín, despite starting the race from a challenging 11th position after a difficult weekend, fought his way through the field to finish in second place. For the last 20 laps, Martín applied relentless pressure on Bagnaia, but the Italian held his nerve, crossing the finish line just 1.2 seconds ahead of his title rival. This marked Bagnaia’s eighth grand prix victory of the season, intensifying the championship fight.
Rounding out the podium was Gresini Racing’s Marc Márquez, who started ninth but battled his way up to third place. Enea Bastianini, Bagna