Well, he's already there, breathing down the neck of the leader, Pecco Bagnaia. Jorge Martín won again in Japan, a double of victories in the Sprint on Saturday and in the Sunday race, run through water and reduced to half the laps due to lack of visibility. So the Madrid native cut 5 more points from the leader, second in Motegi, and is close to only 3. In the next Indonesian GP he could already assault the lead, after cutting 59 points from the Italian.
The podium was closed by a brave Marc Márquez, who was enjoying himself on the water until the race stopped on lap 13 of the 24 scheduled. The Catalan, third after overtaking Aleix Espargaró and Bezzecchi, had not set foot in a box since the Australian GP. He does it in front of Honda's leaders, in the midst of uncertainty about his continuity at the Japanese factory.
The Japanese race had a last minute guest. When the pilots left to do the formation lap, they were shown the rain flag and the warning “Rain” on the light signs. The raincoats were put on in the stands. More excitement and uncertainty for the test – since they had not trained in the wet – and for the fight between Bagnaia and Jorge Martín, separated by only 8 points after the Madrid native's victory in the Sprint on Saturday.
The traffic lights went out and Martín maintained first position from pole, followed by Miller and Bagnaia, third. Aleix Espargaró rose to fourth place. In the first corner, Zarco and Viñales already went to the ground. The rain was getting worse and we could now switch to the jet skis prepared in the pits. They all did it at the same time when the second round began.
They came out with scratched tires, in this order, Martín, Aleix, Márquez and Bagnaia. Espargaró overtook his friend Martín in the first corners, the Madrid native recovered, but he had a small scare in the form of going off the track on the third lap and the Aprilia, Márquez, Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, Miller and Di Gianantonio passed him. It was his turn to come back from Pramac Ducati, who soon overtook the Italian and the Australian.
Bagnaia took advantage of Martín's stress to put pressure on him and place himself second, behind by overtaking Bezzecchi and Márquez (v. 5/24). Martín reacted and followed the Italian by overcoming the same rivals. The duel between the first two was already prepared, with 18 laps to go.
Jorge Martín did not stop there, as on the sixth lap he overtook Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaró in one fell swoop to become the leader of the race; In just a few corners he opened a gap of 7 tenths. He automatically took the lead in the World Championship by a single point over the red Ducati. But Bagnaia also overtook Espargaró and recovered 4 points and with them the virtual leadership.
This is how the two contenders remained, with Martín leading, with a margin of one second, and Bagnaia stabilized in second place, with 1.5s over Bezzecchi, third. Oliveira, a water specialist, was fourth, Marc fifth and Aleix sixth, in front of a Mir who continued to surprise.
The movements followed one another in the group of pursuers. Márquez looked brave on the water and overtook Oliveira to place fourth (v. 11/24), the same as Aleix, fifth. The 93 was spirited and placed third, in podium position, by overtaking Bezzechi mid-race (v. 13/24). If he reached Bagnaia, within half a second, he could give the lead to Martín...
The one from Cervera had a small scare just before the drivers raised their hands due to the accumulation of water on the track and the intensity of the rain. The red flag was shown, so the race was stopped: 13 of the 24 laps had been completed, so the race had to be restarted. It was not considered finished as three-quarters of the laps had not been consumed. At that time, Martín, Bagnaia and Márquez were the leading trio, followed by Bezzecchi and Aleix Espargaró.
After a brief break, the race resumed with a new start from the grid at 12 laps; It was the third Sprint of the weekend. Although on this occasion with poor visibility due to the lack of daylight and the very wet track.
However, on the warm-up lap it was decided not to continue with the race, due to another red flag, due to the obvious lack of visibility. Race direction awarded all the points at stake, in the positions in which they were at that moment of the start: Martín won, cutting 5 more points from Bagnaia and placing himself 3 behind the Italian, second in the World Championship; and Marc Márquez returned to the podium, third.
