Race report

MotoGP Japanese GP: Marquez defeats Moreira for sprint victory

The reigning champion won a first-corner battle to triumph for Ducati

Marc Marquez closed the gap to world championship leader Jorge Martin by claiming victory in the sprint race at Motegi on Saturday.

Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini crossed the line second and third but were both demoted a place after the finish for exceeding track limits, giving Moreira his best MotoGP finish.

KTM's Pedro Acosta was taken out of the race by Marc's brother Alex on the first lap.

The start proved decisive as Marc got away well from the middle of the front row, getting his nose ahead of Martin into the first corner. Martin tried to battle it out around the outside, but eventually had to slot back into line.

From that point on, pole man Martin would never seriously threaten Marquez, whose win allowed him to close the gap to Martin to seven points going into tomorrow's grand prix.

Another major moment in the race came just seconds after Marquez had made the early lead his own. As the field braked for Turn 3, Alex Marquez lost control of his Gresini Ducati and took out both Fabio Di Giannantonio and Acosta.

That misfortune for KTM's young hero Acosta meant a rare chance for one of the other Austrian bikes to shine. Tech3's Bastianini made the most of the opportunity after a fast start from seventh had got him ahead of the chaos that took out his factory colleague.

In third at that point was Marco Bezzecchi, but the factory Aprilia wouldn't hang onto that spot for long. The Italian was the only front-runner to opt for the medium rear tyre in the sprint, and was battling for speed throughout most of the race. He was picked off by Bastianini on lap three, then Moreira and Ai Ogura on lap five.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

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

In the end, Bezzecchi did well to salvage a handful of points for sixth place, helped to some degree by Johann Zarco and Raul Fernandez battling each other hard behind him for much of the race.

There was little threat of a serious battle inside the top six once it had settled - until the final lap, that is. Suddenly things closed up between Martin, Bastianini and Moreira, with the KTM almost pulling alongside the Aprilia at the finish line.

Although the order on the circuit didn't actually change before the chequered flag, track limits penalties for Martin and Bastianini were announced in the immediate aftermath, promoting Moreira to second.

Martin and Bastianini were thus classified third and fourth, ahead of Ogura, who salvaged a reasonable home result from 11th on the grid, on what has been a tricky weekend thus far for the Trackhouse Aprilia man.

SPRINT

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	12	20'50.376		165.8		12
2	D. Moreira Team LCR	11	Honda	12	+2.754 20'53.130	2.754	165.5		9
3	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89	Aprilia	12	+2.466 20'52.842		165.5		7
4	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	12	+2.508 20'52.884	0.042	165.5		6
5	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	12	+5.992 20'56.368	3.484	165.0		5
6	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	12	+6.984 20'57.360	0.992	164.9		4
7	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	12	+8.088 20'58.464	1.104	164.8		3
8	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	12	+8.817 20'59.193	0.729	164.7		2
9	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	12	+10.586 21'00.962	1.769	164.4		1
10	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	12	+11.129 21'01.505	0.543	164.4
11	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	12	+13.632 21'04.008	2.503	164.0
12	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	12	+15.209 21'05.585	1.577	163.8
13	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	12	+19.873 21'10.249	4.664	163.2
14	S. Chantra Honda HRC	15	Honda	12	+19.983 21'10.359	0.110	163.2
15	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	12	+20.469 21'10.845	0.486	163.2
16	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	12	+21.894 21'12.270	1.425	163.0
17	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7	Yamaha	12	+38.442 21'28.818	16.548	161.3
18	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	12	+41.284 21'31.660	2.842	160.5
dnf	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	11	+1 Lap 19'20.309	1 Lap	163.8	Retirement
dnf	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	0	+12 Laps 18.721	11 Laps		Accident
dnf	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	0	+12 Laps 18.872	0.151		Accident
dnf	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	0	+12 Laps 18.926	0.054		Accident
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