Francesco Bagnaia won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to complete a weekend double and cut his gap to Jorge Martín down to 10 points at the top of the world championship standings.
The Ducati rider qualified in second after dominating practice and winning Saturday’s sprint race. Bagnaia quickly overtook the pole sitter, Pedro Acosta (Tech3-KTM), who crashed out while trying to reclaim the race lead on the third lap in Motegi.
Martín (Pramac) began Sunday’s race in 11th place after a difficult weekend but fought through the field to second place, with Bagnaia holding off his title rival over the last 20 laps to win by 1.2sec and clinch his eighth grand prix victory of the season.
Gresini Racing’s Marc Márquez completed the podium after starting ninth on the grid, with Ducati’s Enea Bastianini in fourth. Franco Morbidelli (Pramac) and South Africa’s Brad Binder (Red Bull-KTM) completed the top six.
Bagnaia’s win was the two-times defending world champion’s first since the Austrian Grand Prix in August. “We have to move on to the next one [the Australian GP] with the same ambition and try to continue like this,” the Italian said afterwards.
Spain’s Martín has four more races to navigate if he is to win his maiden MotoGP world title, with races in Thailand, Malaysia and Valencia to follow the Australian Grand Prix in Phillip Island on 20 October.
