Marc Marquez sealed a record seventh MotoGP world title at Motegi by finishing the race in second place behind team-mate Francesco Bagnaia.
Marquez earned his ninth overall world championship in Grand Prix racing by finishing second at Motegi, equalling long-time rival Valentino Rossi in the all-time standings. However, Marquez now stands alone as the rider with the most titles in the MotoGP era.
There was delight on both sides of the Ducati garage, as Bagnaia went on to take the race victory despite a dramatic end to the race, which saw his engine producing smoke under braking.
Bagnaia made the best start from pole position and was able to easily maintain the lead into Turn 1 over the fast-starting Pedro Acosta. Marquez struggled on the initial getaway but was able to tuck his Ducati underneath Joan Mir for third.
Fabio Quartararo also made a good start to the race aboard his Yamaha and was able to make a move on Mir, who struggled to keep up with the pace on his Honda machine. However, Mir was able to respond to Quartararo one lap later and moved back into fourth position, chasing Marquez’s Ducati.
Franco Morbidelli also sensed an opportunity to make his way past the Frenchman, and pulled an audacious move at Turn 4, forcing Quartararo to sit up. The Yamaha rider was quickly demoted to ninth as Marco Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez and Raul Fernandez all made their way through.
Just behind Quartararo, a technical issue forced Luca Marini to retire from the race while running inside the top 10.
Meanwhile, Bezzecchi pursued Morbidelli for three laps after the pair passed Quartararo, and took his chance to make an overtake on Lap 5 at Turn 7, moving him into fifth.
Further up the order, Marquez was struggling to overtake Acosta in front and was forced to drop back to preserve the front tyre. After 11 laps, the Spaniard finally found his way through on the KTM man to get into second and had to try and close a three-second gap to Bagnaia out front.
Mir also closed in on Acosta following Marquez’s overtake, and the 2020 World Champion eventually made his move to take third. Bezzecchi also edged his way past Acosta for fourth, with the Aprilia rider bidding to steal the final spot on the podium from Honda and Joan Mir.
The KTM rider continued to struggle with the tyre wear and lost a further position to Morbidelli, as the Italian entered the top five after a strong race. The Spaniard’s race went from bad to worse as he ran into the gravel while defending from Alex Marquez, as Acosta dropped out of the points and out of contention.
At the front, there was drama with Bagnaia’s Ducati, which was producing smoke as he ran around the race track, threatening a dramatic end to the race. Takaaki Nakagami crashed out of his Honda wildcard duties, while the Italian’s engine continued to produce smoke, with the danger of oil also spilling onto the circuit.
The gap between Bagnaia and Marquez at the front continued to decrease as the Italian desperately attempted to make it to the end of the race, with the engine looking like it was burning up with just three laps to go.
There was more drama further down the order as Jack Miller suffered his own technical problem, with the chain on his Pramac Yamaha falling off and seeing him out of the race.
Despite the technical difficulties, Bagnaia made it to the chequered flag to record his second victory of the campaign by 4.196s.
Marquez sealed the championship with his second-place finish, which saw him take the advantage over brother and title rival Alex Marquez.
Mir earned a hard-fought podium in Honda’s home race, taking the final spot on the rostrum in third.
Bezzecchi was a distant fourth and was closed down by fifth-placed Franco Morbidelli at the end of the race. Alex Marquez conceded the title with his sixth place, while Fernandez took seventh over the line.
Quartararo steadied himself after a rough start to the race in eighth ahead of compatriot Johann Zarco in ninth, as Fermin Aldeguer rounded out the top 10.
Enea Bastianini took the chequered flag in 11th, edging out KTM stablemate Brad Binder in 12th. Fabio Di Giannantonio struggled throughout the weekend and took 13th at the end of the race, while Miguel Oliveira earned 14th.
Somkiat Chantra scored the final point in 15th, fending off Maverick Vinales to score his first point since Assen. Acosta was 17th after his excursion into the gravel, while Alex Rins rounded out the finishers in 18th.
Nakagami was the sole crasher of the Japanese Grand Prix, while Miller and Marini did not see the finish due to a technical problem.
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