Practice report

MotoGP Japanese GP: Alex Marquez heads the field at Motegi

The Gresini Ducati rider aced Friday Practice, with Ai Ogura the major casualty on home ground

Alex Marquez was the fastest rider on Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix, as all of the top championship contenders made it directly into Saturday's Qualifying 2 session.

Home hero Ai Ogura, however, will need to go through the Qualifying 1 session in order to get his weekend back on track, as he failed to make the cut.

Before the session was even 10 minutes old, there had been considerable drama. While Fermin Aldeguer remained marooned in the Gresini garage, his Ducati undergoing work, both Alex Rins (Yamaha) and Luca Marini (Honda) fell off their respective locally-made mounts.

Next up, Ogura's Aprilia went pop in extrovert fashion, right in front of the pits. The latest Trackhouse technical failure dropped oil on the circuit, bringing out the red flags while the new Motegi surface was cleaned up.

After a quiet middle part of the session following the resumption, during which the riders experimented with various compounds in mild temperatures of around 23 degrees, the field began to push for their tickets into Q2 with around 20 minutes to go.

Bezzecchi, who looked more confident on track than he had for some time, landed the first blow, edging Acosta and Marc Marquez on the first round of attacking laps. Points leader Jorge Martin also had a solid lap in the bank and was stationed in fifth. Sixth and seventh were Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco, adding some credence to the idea that Honda's test work around Motegi could give its riders a slight leg up the leaderboard this weekend.

Johann Zarco, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

With a few minutes of the session left and the shadows lengthening in Japan, out went the riders once more for the final flurry of efforts on fresh softs.

Zarco's did not go well, as he suffered a heavy fall at the final corner, interrupting a promising Bezzecchi lap. But Alex Marquez most certainly did find form as he shot to the top of the timesheets with a minute remaining.

Behind him Pedro Acosta, Marc Marquez and Bezzecchi all did more than enough to earn their direct tickets to Q2, despite Moreira also bringing out a yellow flag with a late crash. Championship leader Martin was also comfortably in, with eighth-fastest time despite failing to improve on the last run.

Despite Zarco and Moreira tumbling, they managed to hang on to top 10 spots by the skin of their teeth, as Aldeguer and Ogura were unable to bump them out of Q2 with their last efforts.

Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia endured another Friday battle, failing to threaten the top 10 at all.

MotoGP Japanese GP - Practice results

FiP

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	25	1'42.811		168.110
2	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	25	+0.076 1'42.887	0.076	167.986
3	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	24	+0.100 1'42.911	0.024	167.947
4	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	24	+0.218 1'43.029	0.118	167.754
5	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	23	+0.349 1'43.160	0.131	167.541
6	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	24	+0.386 1'43.197	0.037	167.481
7	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	25	+0.419 1'43.230	0.033	167.428
8	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89	Aprilia	23	+0.464 1'43.275	0.045	167.355
9	D. Moreira Team LCR	11	Honda	22	+0.495 1'43.306	0.031	167.304
10	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	22	+0.574 1'43.385	0.079	167.177
11	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	22	+0.578 1'43.389	0.004	167.170
12	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	23	+0.618 1'43.429	0.040	167.105
13	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	25	+0.674 1'43.485	0.056	167.015
14	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	23	+0.716 1'43.527	0.042	166.947
15	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	24	+0.768 1'43.579	0.052	166.863
16	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	21	+0.775 1'43.586	0.007	166.852
17	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	22	+0.877 1'43.688	0.102	166.688
18	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	23	+0.917 1'43.728	0.040	166.624
19	S. Chantra Honda HRC	15	Honda	25	+1.085 1'43.896	0.168	166.354
20	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	22	+1.493 1'44.304	0.408	165.704
21	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7	Yamaha	23	+1.600 1'44.411	0.107	165.534
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