Francesco Bagnaia survived a late scare from Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez to secure the MotoGP Sprint race win in Motegi.
The interchangeable track conditions played a part all weekend, but the Sprint race commenced with no rain. Riders opted to stick to the dry compound tyres, believing that the track wasn’t wet enough to warrant a last-minute change.
The factory Ducati duo of Bagnaia and Bastianini launched off the line to overtake Pedro Acosta into Turn 1. The rookie Acosta returned to second following a Turn 3 mistake from Bastianini, which saw him enter the corner too hot.
Jorge Martin recovered up to fifth inside the first sector after starting tenth, with the KTM duo of pole-sitter Acosta and Binder in his way.
Older brother Marc Marquez overtook Martin for fifth with a block pass before the back straight to demote the championship leader to sixth.
Joan Mir crashed out on the opening lap at Turn 11 on Lap 1, with the 2020 champion crashing out at Honda’s home race.
Acosta lunged on leader Bagnaia to regain the lead on Lap 3, with the GasGas KTM rider looking to win his first race in the pinnacle of motorbike racing.
Later that same lap, out of nowhere, Binder’s KTM slowed right down, putting him out of proceedings on Lap 3 after such a promising weekend where he previously topped a practice session.
Acosta formulated an advantage out front, with Bastianini again displaying rapid speed, poised to overtake his factory Ducati counterpart.
Hometown hero Takaaki Nakagami crashed out at Turn 2 after coming together with team-mate Johann Zarco, meaning that the Japanese rider has one last opportunity on Sunday to deliver a strong result in front of his home crowd.
Zarco was then penalised with a long-lap penalty, though he was far away from the point-scoring positions to affect his race.
Martin was stuck in the fifth spot during the middle phase of the 12-lap Sprint and could not catch up to Gresini’s Marquez.
While the Ducatis rose up the field in the early laps, Maverick Vinales, who qualified in third place, dropped to 11th by Lap 8 and was accompanied by Raul Fernandez and team-mate Aleix Espargaro.
Espargaro then crashed out, continuing his torrid outing in Japan. The veteran was unable to match his Spanish compatriot in every session this weekend thus far.
With three laps to go, Acosta crashed out of proceedings at Turn 5 with the 20-year-old with his head in his hands in disbelief.
Marquez and Bastianini produced hard but fair racing on Lap 11. Marquez forged his way through at Turn 7, but Bastianini had the inside line around the right turn. Marquez proceeded to switch back on the inside but Bastianini overtook him at the end of the straight and held on to second till the end.
Both riders caught up to the back of Bagnaia at the end but could not produce an overtake.
The two-time reigning champion adds another Sprint race win to his tally to close the championship lead to 15 points after Jorge Martin crossed the line in fourth.
Bastianini and Marquez’s second and third place came after the pair provided aggressive and hard-fought racing to round off the podium.
Pramac rider Franco Morbidelli brought the bike home in fifth with Fabio Di Giannantonio in sixth.
Alex Marquez finished seventh aboard his GP23 Gresini, which led Ducati to occupy first to seventh place in the final classification.
Jack Miller finished as lead non-Ducati rider after Acosta’s crash and Binder’s undisclosed bike problems, with Vinales recovering to ninth after a difficult start.
Marco Bezzecchi finished in tenth spot ahead of Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez and Fabio Quartararo.
Despite the long-lap earlier in the race, Zarco finished within 0.3s of his Honda stablemate Luca Marini as both closed out 13th and 14th spots.
Augusto Fernandez accumulated 15th ahead of second Yamaha rider Alex Rins, who finished ahead of Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori and Yamaha wildcard Remy Gardner.
