MOTEGI, Japan (Reuters) – Twice MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia won the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi on Sunday to complete a weekend double and cut his gap to rival Jorge Martin at the top of the world championship down to 10 points.
The Ducati rider, who qualified in second after dominating practice and won Saturday’s sprint, kept Martin at bay for 20 laps to clinch an eighth win of the season for the first time in his career.
Martin’s second-place finish moved him up to 392 points while Bagnaia is second on 382, with four races left to go in the season.
“I feel super happy. We managed to gain 11 points during this weekend,” said Bagnaia, whose win was the 900th by an Italian in MotoGP history.
The race began in overcast conditions at Motegi’s Twin Ring circuit, with pole-sitter Pedro Acosta overtaken before the first turn of the first lap as Bagnaia darted past him into the lead.
Championship leader Martin (Pramac Racing) began in the fourth row after crashing during qualifying, but had a spectacular opening lap as he launched himself off the line and quickly moved up from 11th to fourth.
The battle for the riders’ championship came to the forefront in the fourth lap when Martin rose to second as he overtook Brad Binder and rookie Acosta, who crashed in Saturday’s sprint, once again went down.
MANAGING THE RACE
Bagnaia managed the race well and kept a healthy distance between himself and Martin.
“Jorge today was much stronger, so I was just trying to manage the gap,” Bagnaia added.
“I think the pace was incredible. We have to move on to the next one with the same ambition, the same strategy, and try to continue like this.”
Alarm bells went off for Ducati in the 22nd lap as the Spaniard cut down the lead to 0.8 seconds with a blistering run. It was too little too late however, as Bagnaia was warned of the danger and upped his pace to shut down Martin’s challenge.
“I’m happy about the result today. I think we did an amazing race,” Martin said.
“For sure, being close to Pecco (Bagnaia), I wanted to give it a try, so I never gave up during that race. I pushed in the end. I’m super happy about this second position.”
Gresini Racing’s Marc Marquez completed the podium after starting ninth on the grid.
Six-times MotoGP champion Marquez put in a masterful performance to finish on the podium, fending off a string of attacks in a hard-fought battle for third with Ducati’s Enea Bastianini.
“Another podium. It was a difficult weekend, but we’re on the podium again, so super happy,” Marquez said.
Dark clouds came rolling in at Motegi in the tenth lap and race directors waved the white flag, allowing riders to swap their bikes, but the skies eventually cleared without any rain.
Home hero Takaaki Nakagami of LCR Honda, racing in his final Japanese Grand Prix as a full-time MotoGP rider, finished 13th while Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales had a race to forget, falling from third to 11th before crashing out midway through the race.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
