Francesco Bagnaia took the MotoGP sprint win in Japanese GP after Pedro Acosta’s fall, as Enea Bastianini was P2 from Marc Marquez.
It was a clean start from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia to take MotoGP sprint lead in Japanese GP at Motegi as Enea Bastianini jumped up to second to drop pole-sitter GASGAS Tech 3’s Pedro Acosta to third in the order, but not for long.
He cleared Bastianini on the first lap to be second, as KTM’S Brad Binder was fourth from fast starters Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin and Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez, with VR46 Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio in seventh from Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.
But Morbidelli immediately retook seventh from di Giannantonio, as KTM’s Jack Miller had the last point in ninth ahead of Gresini’s Alex Marquez. The biggest drop came from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, who dropped outside the Top 10 from the front row.
At the front, Bagnaia was soon reeled in by Acosta to take the MotoGP sprint lead, with Bastianini joining the Top 3 fight. M Marquez cleared Martin for fifth which became fourth after Binder suffered a mechanical issue to retire from the race.
Martin gained a place to be fifth from Morbidelli, di Giannantonio, Miller and A Marquez in the Top 9 points places. Honda’s Joan Mir had a tumble but managed to continue, while LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco collided with Takaaki Nakagami while fighting for position.
Nakagami managed to get back up but pitted to retire, as Zarco was handed a Long Gap Penalty. As Acosta started to create a gap, the Spaniard dropped it at Turn 7 to crash out from the lead to hand it to Bagnaia from Bastianini and M Marquez.
Martin had another place in fourth from Morbidelli, di Giannantonio and Miller, as VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi was up to eighth from A Marquez in the Top 9 points places. There was a fall for Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro with two laps to go from outside the points.
Bagnaia, meanwhile, took the MotoGP sprint win in the Japanese GP and trim the points gap against Martin. The fight for second was close after M Marquez cleared Bastianini only for few corners, as the Italian eventually settled for second from the Spaniard.
Martin was fourth from Morbidelli and di Giannantonio, as Bezzecchi managed to clear Miller for seventh, with the Australian in eighth from A Marquez in the Top 9 points places until the last lap when the order changed again.
Di Giannantonio remained sixth but Bezzecchi dropped to 10th which allowed A Marquez to gain to be seventh from Miller and Vinales, who managed to score a point after starting from the front row.
Result: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1842453890668589364
