MotoGP: Martin powers to Motegi Sprint Race Win

Using his superior Ducati HP wisely, Jorge Martin converted his Motegi MotoGP pole position into victory in the Japanese Grand Prix sprint.

The win was Martin’s third consecutive Tissot Sprint victory.

Predicted rain stayed well away as only sporadic dark clouds floated overhead as Japan continued to experience an extended period of warm weather that the crowd enjoyed.

Brad Binder did his level best to keep tabs on Martin, but in the end crossed the line 1.3s behind, while Francesco Bagnaia was third on his Ducati.

It means the gap between Martin and works Ducati man Bagnaia is now down to just eight points ahead of the feature race on Sunday.

Martin has led every lap in the past two Tissot Sprints, and he went about keeping up that proud record with a superb launch from the line that gave him the holeshot going into Turn 1.

How the race played out

Martin began to open up a gap of 0.338s to Binder in second as they crossed the line again, but more importantly, he was out to 1.7s on title rival Bagnaia who sat in fourth behind Miller. It was beginning to heat up, with a series of personal bests coming in, but yet again, nobody could match the pace of ‘The Martinator’. Binder was doing his best to keep up with the Spanish rider, remaining around the three tenths mark, and the front two were opening a gap to the rest of the field.

At the halfway mark, it seemed the KTMs were beginning to fade slightly. Binder dropped to six tenths behind the runaway race leader, while Miller had former Ducati teammate Bagnaia eyeing up a move behind him. Further trouble was brewing for Binder, as he received a track limits warning at the beginning of the seventh lap, but fortunately for the South African, he kept it squeaky clean until the checkered flag.

Marc Marquez achieved his first target of the day as a 1m43.997 saw him move through Q1 as the fastest rider.

From here he and the team elected a two-run strategy in Q2, earning seventh on the grid as Marquez improved his time by another tenth.

From the head of the third row, Marquez made a strong start to gain positions and move in front of Bezzecchi in the opening corners of the 12-lap Sprint.

The majority of the race would see the #93 defending from both Bezzecchi and Zarco, Marquez having a especially fierce battle with the young Italian during the middle of the race. Crossing the line in seventh, Marquez did well to hold off his pursuers behind while avoiding any unnecessary risks after an intense start to the race.

Back out front, Martin was in a world of his own with just three laps to go. His gap was out to 1.3s with Binder enjoying a three second cushion in second. In the battle for third, Bagnaia made his first move down the back straight on Miller, but the Aussie wouldn’t give up the place without a fight and bit back. In a cracking watch, the #43 was a demon on the brakes and refused to buckle as Bagnaia tried and tried again to take third place off of his hands. However, eventually Miller’s resistance was broken on the penultimate lap, Pecco pushing himself onto the podium with a move at T11.

Onto the last lap, and once again Martin led every lap of the Tissot Sprint in a truly dominant performance to take victory, and more importantly, close the gap to just eight points to Bagnaia in the Championship, despite the reigning World Champion’s podium. Binder came home between the two with Miller settling for fourth.

Japanese GP Sprint Race Results

Rider Standings