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MotoGP Japanese GP: Bagnaia slashes Martin's lead with win, Acosta crashes

Francesco Bagnaia won Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix after leading the race at Motegi from lights to flag, heading home Jorge Martin and thus closing to within 10 points of the Spaniard with four rounds left in the world championship.

Martin’s ride from a lowly 11th on the grid to within just over a second of Bagnaia by the end of the race was a successful damage limitation effort after a difficult weekend aboard his Pramac Ducati.

Polesitter Pedro Acosta (Tech3 KTM) crashed out of the race, just as he had when leading the Saturday sprint. This time the Spaniard was in second place when he tumbled, having already lost the lead to Bagnaia at the start. He was pushing the world champion hard for control of the race when his challenge ended on lap three.

The opening laps were a hectic affair, with several riders gaining and losing positions dramatically from their grid slots. Among these were Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Martin, who had qualified out of position in ninth and 11th respectively. Martin made it into second place as early as lap four, when he slipped past KTM’s Brand Binder.

Another fast starter was Binder’s team-mate Jack Miller, who rocketed from 14th to as high as fifth on lap two before fading again.

Moving in the other direction, just as in the sprint on Saturday, was front-row starter Maverick Vinales. The Aprilia rider found himself ninth on the first lap after contact with Marquez in the first corner. He proceeded to drop further back from there before ultimately falling on lap 13.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

VR46 riders Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi also lost several spots after starting seventh and eighth respectively, before both set about recovery rides.

By lap five, most of this early jockeying was over, Acosta was circulating almost a lap down after his fall and the race had settled into an order.

Bagnaia led Martin by 1.4s at this point, the duo gaping the chasing pack led by Marquez, Binder and Enea Bastianini on the second red factory Ducati.

Binder appeared to be struggling with his race package and was only able to hold off Bastianini until lap 11.

After that move there were no further changes among the top four for the rest of the race. Bagnaia was able to keep Martin out of striking distance with a typical display of race management.

Likewise, Marquez also stayed just out of the threatening Bastianini’s reach, with neither able to do anything about the lead pair.

Late in the race, Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati) demoted Binder to sixth place. The South African just clung on ahead of the recovering VR46 duo of Bezzecchi and di Giannantonio.

Aleix Espargaro salvaged a little joy for Aprilia with his ride to ninth place, leading a tight pack across the line. In his tow were Miller, Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Takaaki Nakagami.

LCR rider Nakagami thus finished in the points in his final home race as a full-time MotoGP rider, after being punted out by his team-mate in Saturday's sprint.

Luca Marini snatched two points further points for circuit owner Honda, while Raul Fernandez rounded out the scorers for Trackhouse Aprilia.

MotoGP Japanese GP - Race results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 24

-

      25
2 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 24

+1.189

1.189

1.189     20
3 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 24

+3.822

3.822

2.633     16
4 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 24

+4.358

4.358

0.536     13
5 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 24

+17.940

17.940

13.582     11
6 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 24

+18.502

18.502

0.562     10
7 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 24

+19.371

19.371

0.869     9
8 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 24

+20.199

20.199

0.828     8
9 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 24

+30.442

30.442

10.243     7
10 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 24

+31.184

31.184

0.742     6
11 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 24

+31.567

31.567

0.383     5
12 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 24

+32.299

32.299

0.732     4
13 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 24

+33.003

33.003

0.704     3
14 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 24

+35.974

35.974

2.971     2
15 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 24

+39.321

39.321

3.347     1
16 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 24

+40.839

40.839

1.518      
17 Australia R. Gardner Yamaha Factory Racing 87 Yamaha 24

+59.547

59.547

18.708      
dnf Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 12

12 laps

    Retirement  
dnf Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 11

13 laps

    Accident  
dnf Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 6

18 laps

    Accident  
dnf Italy L. Savadori Trackhouse Racing Team 32 Aprilia 1

23 laps

    Retirement  
dnf Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 0

24 laps

    Accident  
dnf Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 0

24 laps

    Accident  
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