Bagnaia wins 'super boring' Motegi MotoGP race, Acosta down again

Pecco Bagnaia completed the double at the Japanese Grand Prix to reduce his championship gap to Jorge Martin to just 10 points with four rounds remaining.

The Ducati rider took his eighth Sunday win of the season - a personal record and the most for one rider since 2019 - after a brilliant start saw him claim the lead out of Turn 1.

The reigning champion controlled the race thereafter, and despite Pramac rider Martin closing in the later stages, the Spaniard was unable to match Bagnaia’s pace.

After also winning the sprint on Saturday, Bagnaia now sits 10 points behind Martin as the season reaches its climax.

Japanese GP classification

1 - Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)
2 - Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati)
3 - Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati)
4 - Enea Bastianini (Ducati)
5 - Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati)
6 - Brad Binder (KTM)
7 - Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati)
8 - Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati)
9 - Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia)
10 - Jack Miller (KTM)
11 - Johann Zarco (LCR Honda)
12 - Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)
13 - Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda)
14 - Luca Marini (Honda)
15 - Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia)
16 - Alex Rins (Yamaha)
17 - Remy Gardner (Yamaha)
DNFs: Pedro Acosta (Tech3 Gas Gas), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 Gas Gas), Lorenzo Savadori (Trackhouse Aprilia), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Joan Mir (Honda)

Martin, who lined up 11th after a crash in qualifying, was up to sixth off the line, quickly passing those ahead to move into third on lap three.

A second crash in as many days for poleman Pedro Acosta (Tech3 KTM) promoted Martin to second, with the gap between him and Bagnaia around 1.2s for most of the following laps.

The white flag was waved on lap 10 amid a risk of rain, with Bagnaia extending his lead to as much as 1.8s before Martin bounced back.

Closing the gap to under a second in the final four laps, a late charge from Martin was curtailed by a couple of "moments" that convinced him to settle for second.

Marc Marquez completed the podium for Gresini for his second third-place finish of the weekend, having lined up ninth after a costly track limits breach had robbed him of pole in Q2.

While Bagnaia got the jump on Acosta off the line, Marquez had made up places to fifth despite being bumped by Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.

Both factory KTMs had strong starts, with Brad Binder up to third off the line as team-mate Jack Miller shot from 14th to fifth.

Joan Mir and Gresini’s Alex Marquez were both out at the end of lap one after the younger Marquez crashed into the rear of the beleaguered Honda rider.

Martin took third from Binder on lap three, while Marquez passed Miller for fifth up the inside of Turn 7 before Acosta’s crash at Turn 14. The Tech3 rider also crashed out of the lead during Saturday’s sprint.

Marquez then made it past Binder at Turn 5 in a trademark block pass. Factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini then set about trying to pass the South African - a task which eventually took him until lap 10.

Bagnaia’s gap to Martin was up to 1.2s by lap 13, with 3.2s from the Spaniard to Marquez, who faced a late challenge from Bastianini - closing the gap to just 0.6s within the next five laps, aided by a Marquez error.

Despite this, Marquez would describe the race as "super boring" from his perspective - as Bastianini never got closer.

Martin's team-mate Franco Morbidelli had powered past Binder for fifth, the pair followed across the finish line by the VR46 Ducati duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Aleix Espargaro finished ninth for Aprilia ahead of Miller, with Johann Zarco in 11th for LCR after Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ran out of gas at the end of the final lap.

Zarco's team-mate Takaaki Nakagami was 13th at his final home appearance as a full-time rider, with Luca Marini (Honda) and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez rounding off the points.

Crashes also came for Vinales, who had lined up third before dropping back early on and sliding off at Turn 5 on lap 12, and Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez. Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori retired at the end of lap two.