penalty to be served at the Aus-
tralian GP as a result.
Marc Marquez overtook
Bastianini and then dived past
Binder for third as Acosta once
again crashed out from behind
Bagnaia, losing his chance for a
maiden MotoGP win.
Martin moved into second
after starting 11th, and although
Bagnaia built a 1.5-second lead,
Martin closed the gap. How-
ever, a moment on the front end
made Martin reconsider, settling
for second and 20 points to
maintain a 10-point lead in the
standings.
"We're leaving Motegi with
the maximum number of points
available, so I'm really happy,"
Bagnaia said. "We did a per-
fect job during the weekend.
It wasn't easy, because in the
early stages of the race, Pedro
As rain threatened, Marquez
battled Bastianini, briefly pass-
ing him before the Ducati rider
forcefully retook second place
at the end of the back straight.
The pair closed in on Bagnaia
but couldn't overcome his half-
second lead, Bagnaia winning
by just over a tenth of a second,
with all three covered by 0.349
of a second. Bagnaia's victory
cut his points gap to Martin to
15, who finished fourth.
Bastianini's second place kept
him ahead of Marquez in the
championship. Franco Mor
-
bidelli (Prima Pramac Ducati)
finished fifth, while a group
battle saw Alex Marquez (Gresi
-
ni Ducati) ahead of Jack Miller
(Red Bull KTM) and Maverick
Vinales (Aprilia Racing). Home
hero Takaaki Nakagami (Idemit
-
su LCR Honda) suffered late
heartbreak in his final Japanese
Grand Prix weekend, crashing
after teammate Johann Zarco
clattered into his side. Zarco
received a long-lap penalty for
the incident.
Sunday MotoGP Race
Bagnaia took the lead at the
start, while polesitter Acosta
challenged but went wide, al-
lowing Bagnaia through. Brad
Binder moved into third, with
Bastianini and Marquez close
behind. Early chaos saw Binder
briefly lose position before
regaining it, with Martin mov
-
ing up to fourth. Further back,
Alex Marquez crashed out and
took Mir with him for the latter's
umpteenth race crash of 2024.
Marquez was given a long-lap
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P87
struggled considerably with spin
and was in 17th place when team-
mate Johann Zarco took him out
of the Sprint race. Needless to
say, Nakagami wasn't impressed
by the Frenchman's conduct.
"After the race, he came to my
side and apologized, but I said
that this was unnecessary, that
it was not a nice move," he said.
"He was explaining to me why he
moved like this, but it was difficult,
because, after the race, I was so
disappointed in my teammate. We
are not fighting against a point,
and it's still the beginning of the
race. And also not the place to
overtake, that corner, between
one and two."
Briefly...
Joan Mir (in orange)
collects an unwanted
Ducati souvenir as
Alex Marquez smashes
into the back of the
factory Honda.
Marco Bezzecchi
(72) heads Fabio Di
Giannantonio and
Miller on Saturday.
