Ducati rider Marc Marquez won the sprint race at the Japanese Grand Prix in the World Motorcycle Championship on Saturday, reducing the five-point gap separating him from the leader of the standings, Jorge Martin, Aprilia rider.
Marquez started strongly and maintained the inside lane at the first turn on the opening lap to pass Martin, who set a lap record on the Motegi circuit, to take pole position in qualifying that was held earlier on Saturday.
Marquez, the defending champion, maintained the lead and went on to win, raising his score to 306 points, seven points behind Martin (313 points) before the main race held on Sunday.
Seven-time world champion Marquez said: “The goal in qualifying was to start on the front row. Starting from first or second place was the perfect place to have a great speed race.”
He added: “We made minor adjustments for the speed race, and I felt much better on the bike.”
Martin finished the race second on the track, but fell to third place behind Diogo Moreira of the LCR Honda team.
The Spaniard faced difficulty at the end of the sprint after he was subjected to pressure from Enea Bastianini from the Tech 3 team, and this exciting struggle led to both competitors leaving the track.
“I tried to do everything I could on the last lap to keep Enya behind me,” Martin said. "And I succeeded in that."
He added: “I don’t know exactly where I touched (the outside), because I was so focused on avoiding that. So, it was a huge mistake.”
Brazilian Moreira (22 years old) climbed onto the podium for the first time in a speed race. This was also the first time that his LCR team climbed onto the podium in speed races since 2023.
“Today was the desired day,” Moreira said. We watched the accident and I said I would try to push and see what happens, and in the end I felt more comfortable on the bike lap after lap.”
KTM rider Pedro Acosta, who recently achieved his first victory in the World Motorcycle Championship, started from the front row, but soon found himself in the gravel after being involved in a triple collision with Alex Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio.
Japanese Trackhouse team rider Ai Ogura finished the race in fifth place, ahead of Martin's Aprilia teammate Marko Betsiki, whose hopes of winning the championship took another hit.
French national team coach Zinedine Zidane expressed his satisfaction with the “content” and not the “result” after the 1-1 draw with Italy in the European Nations League, on Friday, at the Stade de France in Paris.
Zidane said in the press conference: “I am satisfied with the content, but I am not satisfied with the result. We deserved better, and we had a chance to score the second goal. I am proud of my players and what we have achieved. We created a fair number of chances, and (Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi) Donnarumma was excellent, making two or three exceptional saves. This is part of the game. “So we have to keep working, as this was only our third match.”
This was Zidane's first match on French soil since he was appointed coach of the national team, succeeding Didier Deschamps, after he achieved two wins away from home in the European Nations League: against Türkiye 1-0, and Belgium 1-0.
The coach added: “We had possession of the ball in the first half, but we lacked the attacking momentum from the midfielders in the last thirty metres. But we did it well in the second half. Our offensive performance was good in the first half and better in the second half. We wanted to win for the sake of our fans who supported us. “I was impressed and happy to be back at the Stade de France.”
When asked about Ousmane Dembélé’s performance, which seemed somewhat disappointing, Zidane explained that he found it good.
He also said: “Othman remains Othman, and I am satisfied with him. It's all over the field. "I don't have much to blame him for, he created a fair number of opportunities for himself."
