MotoGP Japanese GP: Jorge Martin Wins Motegi Race, Marc Marquez Scores Podium

As a result of heavy rain at Motegi, the 2023 Japanese MotoGP is called at just over halfway distance, and the race is won by Jorge Martin. After a planned restart had to be scrapped owing to the weather, Martin found himself only three points behind defending champion Francesco Bagnaia.

With his victory in the rain-shortened Japanese GP over Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin came closer to the MotoGP points lead. After winning the sprint on Saturday, Pramac Ducati rider Martin put on another magnificent performance to win the Motegi race. The bulk of riders rushed to the pits for a bike switch when the rain began to fall shortly after lights out, despite the fact that they had started the race on slick tyres. In the shower, Martin cut through the competition and opened up a lead, which was quickly closed by Francesco Bagnaia. Now that all points have been awarded, with six weekends left, Martin is only three points behind Bagnaia, who leads the championship. However, Honda's Marc Marquez finished third, his first Grand Prix podium in almost a year, while Ducati's VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi finished fourth.

MotoGP Japanese GP: Moteg Race Result

A few drops of rain fell before the start, but everyone used slicks for the warm-up lap nevertheless. Then, not long into the race, it started to pour. After passing Bagnaia for second at Turn 9 on Lap 6, Martin then out-braked Espargaro for the lead at Turns 10 and 11.

@marcmarquez93 is into third! #JapaneseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/ljnRchabDO

— MotoGP (@MotoGP) October 1, 2023

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Martin was 1.6 seconds ahead of the rest of the field when the race was stopped due to red flags, with Espargaro falling to fourth place behind Bagnaia, Marquez, and Bezzecchi. After a little over 20 minutes, race officials tried to restart the event, but the weather was still bad, so they waved the red flags again and called it a wash.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Jorge Martin	Pramac Ducati	24m 6.314s
2	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati Lenovo	+1.413s
3	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda	+2.013s
4	Marco Bezzecchi	Mooney VR46 Ducati	+2.943s
5	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia Racing	+3.181s
6	Jack Miller	Red Bull KTM	+6.837s
7	Augusto Fernandez	Tech3 GASGAS	+7.587s
8	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Ducati	+8.602s
9	Raul Fernandez	RNF Aprilia	+11.229s
10	Fabio Quartararo	Monster Yamaha	+12.244s
11	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda	+14.714s
12	Joan Mir	Repsol Honda	+14.924s
13	Cal Crutchlow	Yamalube	+16.057s
14	Stefan Bradl	LCR Honda	+17.253s
15	Pol Espargaro	Tech3 GASGAS	+24.921s
16	Michele Pirro	Ducati Lenovo	+33.962s
17	Franco Morbidelli	Monster Yamaha	+74.934s
18	Miguel Oliveira	RNF Aprilia	+1 lap
19	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia Racing	+1 lap
DNF	Johann Zarco	Pramac Ducati
DNF	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM

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While Crutchlow earned three points for finishing in thirteenth, Bradl earned two points for finishing in fourteenth after being called in to replace the injured Alex Rins midway through the weekend.

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