MOTO GP

Márquez unstoppable at Motegi

Spaniard Marc Márquez(image above) won the Japanese Grand Prix at Mobility Resort Motegi, beating his compatriot Jorge Martín, who retains the 2026 MotoGP championship lead by just two points. Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi rounded out the podium, finishing ahead of his compatriot Enea Bastianini.

With all riders using the special tire following the withdrawal of the soft compound, the lights went out and Jorge Martín successfully defended his pole position against Marc Márquez this time around, while Marco Bezzecchi and Álex Márquez overtook Pedro Acosta at the start; behind them came Enea Bastianini, Raúl Fernández, and Ai Ogura.

A leading quartet began to form as Acosta faced considerable difficulties, getting overtaken on the second lap by Bastianini, Fernández, and Ogura, and dropping to eighth place in the blink of an eye. Behind him, Diogo Moreira overtook Pecco Bagnaia.

On the fifth lap, Álex Márquez served the first of his two long-lap penalties for the Sprint race incident, losing only one position to Bastianini but rejoining the race just ahead of the group containing Fernández, Ogura, Acosta, and Moreira. Two laps later, he served his second long-lap penalty and rejoined the race in ninth place, right behind the Brazilian.

Meanwhile, the leading trio set a blistering pace, with Bezzecchi beginning to struggle to keep up; Bastianini was riding in isolation, while a group battling for fifth place saw Diogo Moreira crash out on the ninth lap.

Gradually, Márquez closed the gap to Martín until, on the eleventh of the 23 laps, he took advantage of a left-hand corner to seize the lead with an impeccable overtake on the Madrid native and attempt to change the pace. Márquez began to open up a gap of nearly a second over Martín, who was gradually being caught by Bezzecchi; Bezzecchi, in turn, was pulling further away from Bastianini. Behind them, Acosta managed to shake off Ogura with seven laps to go and stay close to Fernández.

Martín appeared to be mounting a response, but on lap 18, Marc Márquez broke the lap record and extended his lead to over a second; meanwhile, Bastianini began to fly, closing the gap to Bezzecchi. Behind them, Jack Miller and Álex Márquez crashed in quick succession. A lap later, Johann Zarco also went down.

With the top four separated by more than a second—though Bastianini was pushing for the lap record in a bid for the podium—the excitement shifted to the trio battling for fifth place; Acosta lunged at Fernández, who retaliated at the next corner, allowing Ogura to seize the opportunity and overtake the rider from Murcia.

Marc Márquez perfectly managed the gap to Jorge Martín to claim his sixth victory of the season—a milestone he has reached seven times in the premier class, equaling Valentino Rossi's record.

Behind them, Marco Bezzecchi fought bravely to secure a podium spot, beating Enea Bastianini by just 18 thousandths of a second, while Raúl Fernández held onto fifth place ahead of Ai Ogura and Pedro Acosta. The top 10 was rounded out by Pecco Bagnaia, Fermín Aldeguer, and Luca Marini.

The master of Motegi strikes for the fourth time. And now, he sits just two points off the championship lead. The 2026 Motul Grand Prix of Japan ended with a spectacular performance by Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), who bested title rival Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) on ​​Sunday afternoon to narrow the standings gap to that razor-thin margin ahead of the trip to Indonesia. The 2024 World Champion, Martin, secured a crucial 20 points to retain the lead in the title fight, while his teammate Marco Bezzecchi kept his cool under intense pressure from Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in the closing laps to clinch a podium spot.

The big talking point before the Grand Prix: Michelin hard or medium rear tire? The answer, for everyone, was the recommended hard rear option. Everyone was in the same boat. It was an extremely difficult choice, given the very limited track time on the hard rear tire throughout the weekend—a journey into the unknown. A massive 24 laps lay ahead.

Then came the moment for the lights to go out at Mobility Resort Motegi. Starting from pole, Martin grabbed the holeshot and kept Marc Marquez behind him, while Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP)—who had to serve a double Long Lap Penalty—overtook Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). The Austrian GP winner dropped to P5 after starting from the outside of the front row. However, he soon dropped to P8 on the second lap as Bastianini, Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), and home hero Ai Ogura—the #25's teammate—pushed Acosta toward the back end of the top 10.

By lap 5 of 24, only 0.4s separated Martin and Marc Marquez—both lapping in the 1:43.6 range—while Bezzecchi trailed the reigning World Champion by 0.6s. Alex Marquez completed the first of his two Long Laps on lap 5, dropping to P5 and promoting Bastianini to P4; his second Long Lap, taken on lap 7, pushed him down to P9, one spot behind Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR), who had claimed a podium in the Tissot Sprint.

On lap 10, the pace set by Martin and Marc Marquez appeared too strong for Bezzecchi at that stage of the Grand Prix. The gap between the top two title contenders and the Italian had already stretched to 1.9s. The #89 and #93—World Champions in 2024 and 2025—traded the fastest laps of the race before Marquez made his first move at Turn 9 on lap 11.

Pressure? What pressure? Marc Marquez responded. The eight-time World Champion clocked a 1:43.291 to gain some breathing room, and the gap grew to 1.2s on the following lap.

Then, the margin shrank back to 0.9s as Bezzecchi and Bastianini set the race's fastest laps. Bastianini was 1.2s behind Bezzecchi's rear Michelin tire, then exactly one second back, all while setting another fastest lap. And then came a third in a row! Bezzecchi was coming under increasing pressure from "The Beast" as they began the final lap of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Marquez led by 1.2s and was in a relatively comfortable position. So was Martin. But Bezzecchi's situation was far from secure. Bastianini set his fourth consecutive fastest lap to close right up on his rival, but it wasn't enough.

Finishing just two seconds ahead of the Italians, Marc Marquez completed a Japanese double to claim his 79th victory. After the disappointment in Austria, the reigning Champion bounced back at the very circuit where he had clinched the 2025 title a year ago, narrowing the gap to just two points behind Martin—who took his sixth P2 finish of the year and limited the damage. It was a successful weekend for the top two contenders in the title fight.

How the Japanese MotoGP GP unfolded: Sunday at Motegi remained overcast for the Japanese GP. At the start of the premier class main race, air temperature stood at 20°C and track temperature at 29°C, with winds of 3 km/h and 57% humidity for this Asian round.

A key development of the weekend was the return of Tech3's Maverick Viñales, who had been sidelined since the German GP to treat a shoulder injury. The most notable absentee was Joan Mir, replaced by Somkiat Chantra at Honda this weekend.

Following the controversy regarding excessive soft-tire wear on Motegi's new asphalt during the sprint race, riders opted for the special hard rear tire and the medium front compound for the main race, in line with Michelin's guidance for the Japanese round.

At the start, Martín got away well and fended off an attack from Marc Márquez to retain the lead through the opening corners. Bezzecchi also made a strong start, gaining a position to move into third place. Moreira, on the other hand, did not get off to the same start and dropped from ninth to tenth.

Martín capitalized on the RS-GP's strong performance and balance with the special Michelin rear tire to pull away from Marc Márquez in the early stages of the race. By the third lap, the gap between the two had already reached 0.6 seconds.

Bezzecchi also gained ground and began closing in on the #93 Ducati rider, who seemed unable to extract peak performance from the Desmosedici GP26 on the hard tire—a recurrence of the difficulties seen in Austria.

Moreira, meanwhile, fought back and regained the lost position by overtaking Francesco Bagnaia, moving back up to ninth place. Shortly after, the Brazilian gained another spot when Álex Márquez served his second long-lap penalty.

From the seventh lap onwards, Marc Márquez narrowed the gap to Martín, making it clear that the Aprilia rider would have a tough fight to hold onto the lead at Motegi. By the eighth lap, the #93 was right on his rival's tail, applying pressure and looking for an opportunity to take the lead.

The pair broke away from the pack and engaged in the weekend's main battle, contending for both the race win and the lead in the Riders' Championship. On the ninth lap, however, Moreira ended up in the gravel at Turn 9 and retired from the race.

Martín held the lead until lap 11, when Marc Márquez surprised the #89 rider in the third sector. The #93 rider made an inside move at the corner to take the lead but found himself closely pursued by his Aprilia rival at Motegi.

The second half of the Japanese GP was a matter of managing the race. Marc Márquez was still closely followed by Martín but had established a 0.5-second cushion over the Aprilia rider, while Bezzecchi rounded out the podium for the Noale-based team.

In the middle of the pack, Bastianini held fourth place, followed by Raúl Fernández in fifth. Racing on home soil, Ai Ogura sat in sixth and tried to shake off Acosta—who was running seventh—to move further up the field, but the positions remained unchanged.

In the closing laps, Martín pushed hard to try and close the gap to Marc, but the Catalan managed his tires well, controlled the margin, and secured the victory at Motegi—the very venue where the #93 rider had clinched the world title in 2025.

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