MotoGP Sprint
The Sprint was thrown into
chaos at turn one when Fernan-
dez and Bezzecchi collided and
crashed out. Marquez and Di
Giannantonio were also caught
in the opening-corner congestion
but kept going, while Martin beat
them all to emerge in front.
Martin initially built a lead of
more than a second over Mar-
quez, but with four laps remain-
ing, the Spaniard suddenly
slowed, allowing Marquez to
take over. Martin later attributed
the loss of pace to dreaded tire-
pressure issues.
The Aprilia rider recovered
and began closing on Marquez,
briefly threatening to reclaim the
lead. However, a wide moment
at turn 15 dropped Martin out of
podium contention and left him
fourth at the finish.
Ogura capitalized on the
late drama, closing rapidly on
Marquez during the final lap
but finishing just short of a
challenge for victory. Fabio Di
Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro
VR46 Racing Team Ducati) held
third, while Alex Marquez (BK8
Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati)
finished fifth.
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM
Factory Racing) recovered to
sixth after serving a long-lap
penalty for track limits. Fermin
VOLUME 63 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 13, 2026 P63
Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing Mo-
toGP), Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati
Lenovo Team) and Fabio Quar-
tararo (Monster Energy Yamaha
MotoGP Team) completed the
points-paying top nine.
After the Sprint race, Marc Mar-
quez, who was obviously spent af-
ter Saturday's win in the heat and
humidity, topped the leaderboard
for the first time this season. Marc
Marquez held a four-point lead on
Martin going into Sunday's GP.
TIME TO UNIONIZE?
A common refrain on Thursday
from the riders was disappoint-
ment at not being consulted over
the changes for 2027. "Won't
change anything if we give our
opinion," said Alex Marquez. But
surely the riders have a voice?
Riders that attended the Safety
Commission in Japan were told of
the upcoming changes. The thing
was, only four were present. "It's
not a proper moment during the
weekend, to sit everyone together
and talk about that," said Acosta.
"Because in the Safety Commis-
sion, it's about safety, it's not about
these things. [Also], we're skipping
this because we have no time." Ez-
peleta also said it was the teams'
job to inform their riders. But with
many rider changes coming for
2027, results were mixed. "We
really asked the teams to speak to
the riders, and there's been mixed
levels of that during the last couple
of GPs. To be honest, with the
change of so many riders, I think
many teams have had different
positions in terms of how they
brought their riders in."
Briefly...
(Left) Marquez (93) had his hands
full on Sunday with Pedro Acosta
(37), Fabio Di Giannantonio (49) and
Ai Ogura. In the end, they all got past
except Di Giannantonio. (Bottom)
Alex Marquez (73) held up Gresini
honors with seventh in the Sunday
GP, one place up on Di Giannantonio.
