Marc Márquez wins the Japanese GP sprint race and closes the gap

Marc Márquez has added his seventh sprint victory of the season by winning the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix at the 'Mobility Resort Motegi' circuit.

Although Marc Márquez finished ahead of the world leader, Jorge Martín and the Italian Enea Bastianini, they were penalized for stepping into the green zone on the last lap with the loss of one position, which handed second position on a plate to the Brazilian Diogo Moreira (Honda RC 213 V), ahead of both.

Marc Márquez reduces the differences with Martín by five points, which is now seven points, 306 for the first compared to 313 for the second.

The current champion of the category knew how to take advantage of the opportunity very well at the start to gain position over Jorge Martín who tried to maintain first place but could not, while his teammate Marco Bezzecchi took third, after a poor start by Pedro Acosta (KTM RC 16).

That bad start by Acosta made him be at the worst moment in the wrong place, as the Italian Enea Bastianini (KTM RC 16) slipped into the leading group and Alex Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26), who was trying to maintain the position, blocked the brakes and took Acosta himself and the Italian Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati Desmosedici GP26) ahead.

At the head of the race Marc Márquez set the fastest lap of the race on the third lap, with Jorge Martín trying to maintain his pace and a little further behind were Bastianini, Bezzecchi and the Japanese Ai Ogura (Aprilia RS-GP), fighting for the podium positions after having started from eleventh, but benefiting from the fall of those three drivers.

From behind, the Brazilian Diogo Moreira (Honda RC 213 V) - who started ninth - also knew how to take advantage of his opportunity to reach Ogura, who saw how shortly after he was overtaken by the South American driver and a lap later he also defeated Bezzecchi.

Marc Márquez continued as a solid leader, gradually gaining, tenth by tenth of a second, distance over his immediate pursuer, who was none other than Jorge Martín, the championship leader, with Enea Bastianini in third place, moving away from Diogo Moreira, Ai Ogura and Marco Bezzecchi.

The nine-time world champion knew how to control a firm and constant pace, maintaining the gap over his pursuer at all times, if necessary, as happened four laps from the end, when he stopped the clock at 1:43.471.

Jorge Martín also had problems in the last two laps, in which Enea Bastianini, Moreira and Ai Ogura, who in that order crossed the finish line at the end of the twelve laps, caught in the slipstream of his motorcycle.

By then Jorge Martín already had unusually high wear on the rear wheel, although the surprise came at the end of the test, when Race Direction penalized both Jorge Martín and Enea Bastianini for exceeding the limits of the track by stepping into the green zone at the exit of turn ten.