The Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP23) added his fifth victory in a "sprint" race of the season and the third in a row after those in San Marino and India, by winning with authority and alone the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix, disputed on the "Mobility Resort" Motegi circuit.
Martín, with his victory, cuts the gap by five points with the world leader, the Italian Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), who now has just eight points ahead, 299 compared to the Madrid native's 291.
Martín came out like a real "missile" to head into the first leading corner of the test, while on the inside the Australian Jack Miller (KTM RC 16) passed the Italian Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), and his teammate team, the South African Brad Binder (KTM RC 16) also managed to "sneak" the Italian.
Like them, Marc Márquez (Honda RC 213 V), who started seventh, managed to recover two positions in those initial meters to conclude the first lap in that fifth position, literally close to Bagnaia.
Martín tried to set his pace but, stuck in the slipstream of his Ducati, he took on Brad Binder who already finished on the podium last year, and both of them a few meters ahead of Miller, Bagnaia and a Márquez who was completely close to him.
Behind them, the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati Desmosedici GP23) was gradually approaching, who had surpassed both Marco Bezzechi (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) and the Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP), and was not having a good time. moment the Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha YZR M 1), MotoGP world champion in 2021, who lost several positions in those initial laps and was seventeenth on the third lap.
On the fourth lap, both Martín and Binder had achieved a certain advantage, almost a second and a half, over the group led by Miller, Bagnaia and Márquez and which also included Zarco, Bezzecchi, Espargaró, Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia RS-GP).
But the pace of the Ducati and the KTM was too much for Marc Márquez's Honda, who little by little was giving ground, although always setting the pace in the chasing group of the two pairs that were riding in front, and with his teammate Joan Mir , who could see and wanted to keep up the pace in the next group, in which he was also Spanish Pol Espargaró (Gas Gas RC 16) ahead of him.
The race situation, with Martín and Binder ahead in the seventh of the twelve laps they had to complete, Miller and Bagnaia were almost three seconds behind (2.781), with the trio formed by Márquez, Bezzecchi and Zarco already more than five seconds and Aleix Espargaró reaching them.
Bezzecchi tried to overtake Márquez in turn eleven of the eighth lap, but both extended their braking a lot and ended up slipping away, which left the position on a plate for Johann Zarco. Start again.
Jorge Martín gradually separated himself from Brad Binder while Jack Miller masterfully withstood the attacks of "Pecco" Bagnaia with constant overtaking attempts almost to the limit that the Australian knew how to stop in a very risky way.
One lap later, on the tenth lap, Bagnaia achieved his goal of overtaking Miller and, behind him, on the next lap, Bezzecchi did the same with Marc Márquez.
The race was sealed with a clear victory for Jorge Martín, ahead of Brad Binder and "Pecco" Bagnaia and a little further back, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Márquez.
Aleix Espargaró, who came into contact with that trio led by Márquez, had to retire with technical problems, while his Aprilia teammate, Maverick Viñales, was ninth, at the head of a quintet of Spaniards also made up of Raúl Fernández (Aprilia RS-GP), Pol Espargaró, Augusto Fernández (Gas Gas RC 16) and Joan Mir.
