Marc Marquez passes Jorge Martin for Japanese MotoGP victory

Unlike Saturday’s sprint, polesitter Jorge Martin kept the lead of Sunday’s grand prix heading into turn one, with Marc Marquez staying in second ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, who climbed ahead of KTM’s Pedro Acosta at the start.

There was also no drama at turn three as Alex Marquez took fourth place away from the slow-starting Acosta.

With the soft rear tyre removed from the allocation due to fears of overheating, every rider opted for the hard rear, which seemed to be suiting Martin early on.

One rider it did not suit was Acosta, who then lost fifth place to fellow KTM rider Enea Bastianini on lap two.

Acosta was then moved down to eighth place as both Trackhouse Racing riders came past in quick succession. 

At the front, Marquez responded to Martin’s fast start with a new fastest lap on the fourth tour, while Bezzecchi remained close to the front two.

A new fastest lap was then set by Bezzecchi on lap five, however, it was Marquez who began making a serious charge.

The nine-time world champion responded with a fastest lap of his own on the next lap around, reducing a half second deficit to Martin to just over three tenths. 

After claiming his maiden MotoGP podium in the sprint, Diogo Moreira then crashed out of P9 following a fall at turn nine, on lap nine.

With Martin and Marquez upping the pace, Bezzecchi began to struggle as he ran wide at turn three.

The factory Aprilia star kept shedding time to the front two, while Marquez was now on the rear tyre of Martin. Marquez then pounced at turn nine (lap 11) with a brilliant move under the braking. 

Martin threatened a response on the very next lap before running onto the green on the exit of turn nine, before Marquez started pulling clear of his title rival.

Marquez stretched his lead to nine tenths by the start of lap 16, while Bezzecchi was now catching Martin. 

Acosta’s charge back to fifth place was finally on the move as the Austrian GP winner took sixth place away from home hero Ai Ogura at turn ten.

At the front, Marquez ended all hopes Martin had of taking victory by setting a new fastest lap with six remaining. 

As the battle between Raul Fernandez, Acosta and Ogura started heating up for fifth, Bastianini was continuing his impressive showing in fourth by setting a new fastest lap on the 20th lap.

The Italian bettered that on the next lap around, while Alex Marquez, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco all crashed in quick succession. All three incidents were unrelated. 

Come the start of the final lap, Bastianini had an unlikely podium in his grasp before nearly running into the rear of Bezzecchi at turn ten. Bastianini narrowly missed out as the pair crossed the line behind Marquez and Martin. 

Fernandez held off his team-mate Ogura and Acosta for fifth place, while Francesco Bagnaia secured eighth ahead of Fermin Aldeguer and Luca Marini.