Two points. After an entire weekend at Motegi, that is all that remains between Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez in the MotoGP World Championship. Martin starts from pole and leads the opening phase. Marc stays with him. Waits. Then, on lap 11, a small mistake from his rival gives Marquez the opportunity he needs. The #93 moves ahead and never gives the position back. He wins in 41’31.467, with Martin second, 1.363 seconds behind.
Behind them, the Italians create a battle of their own.
Marco Bezzecchi finishes third.
Enea Bastianini fourth.
The gap between them? Just 0.078 seconds.
One day after watching a podium disappear because of track limits, Enea is back in exactly the same place. This time, he does not lose it after the chequered flag. He misses it by almost nothing before it.
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Martin and Marc race on another level in Motegi
Martin had started the weekend in control.
Pole position. A new Motegi record of 1’42.371, only 0.110 ahead of Marquez. Marc responded in the Sprint. Victory. Five Championship points recovered.
On Sunday, Martin initially puts himself back in charge. But Marc never disappears. When the opportunity arrives on lap 11, he takes it.
The final result is simple: Marc P1. Martin P2.
The Championship is even simpler.
Martin 333.
Marquez 331.
Two points.
Bezzecchi takes the podium — Bastianini almost takes it from him
Marco Bezzecchi’s Saturday had been compromised by a medium rear tyre choice that never delivered the pace he expected.
Sunday looks very different. Bez runs with the leading group and finishes third, 2.252 seconds behind Marquez. It is a podium that brings his Motegi weekend much closer to what his speed throughout practice had suggested was possible.
But Enea Bastianini does not make the final laps comfortable. Starting seventh, the Tech3 rider produces another race at the front and closes right onto the back of Bezzecchi.
At the finish:
Bezzecchi +2.252.
Bastianini +2.330.
Seventy-eight thousandths.
On Saturday, Bastianini crossed the line third before a track-limits penalty demoted him to fourth. On Sunday, he finishes fourth again. This time, however, the difference is not a penalty.
It is 0.078 seconds.
A completely new rear tyre for everyone
There is also an unavoidable technical story behind Sunday’s race.
Following the severe degradation seen in the Sprint, Michelin withdrew the Soft rear and recommended its reinforced Hard construction for the Grand Prix. It was a tyre nobody had used during the first two days of the weekend. Warm Up was therefore extended from ten to twenty minutes to allow riders to test it.
When the grid formed, the choice became unanimous: every rider started on the Hard rear.
A tyre that had barely existed in the weekend’s story on Saturday suddenly became the tyre the entire MotoGP field raced on Sunday. And, unlike the Sprint, the full-distance Grand Prix reaches the finish without the same tyre chaos.
Bagnaia recovers, but remains far from the front
Francesco Bagnaia finishes eighth, 20.333 seconds behind the winner.
After Saturday’s extraordinary rear-tyre damage and retirement, simply reaching the chequered flag marks a significant change. Starting 13th, Pecco gains five positions and eight points. But the gap remains difficult to ignore.
This is better than another zero. It is not yet an answer to the problems that continue to shape his season.
Marini in the top ten, difficult Sunday for Diggia and Morbidelli
Luca Marini finishes P10, collecting six points for Honda.
Franco Morbidelli takes the final point in P15.
Fabio Di Giannantonio has a much harder Sunday, finishing 18th, more than 50 seconds behind the winner. After qualifying sixth, the Japanese weekend leaves Diggia with far less than his early pace appeared capable of delivering.
Moto2: Tony Arbolino is back on the podium
And the Italian story in Japan does not end with MotoGP.
Only a few days ago, while writing about Tony Arbolino’s move to the KLINT Forward project for 2027, we said something very specific: “Tony does not need to prove that he has been fast before. He needs to find a way to be fast every Sunday again”.
At Motegi, at least for one Sunday, he does it from the podium. Arbolino starts fifth and spends the entire Moto2 race inside the leading fight. Izan Guevara eventually takes victory, but Tony keeps the pressure on until the finish and crosses the line second, only 0.419 seconds behind.
It is Arbolino’s first podium of the 2026 season and his first since Austin in March 2025.
One podium does not repair two difficult seasons. It does not make every question disappear. And we are still not going to call it a rebirth. But it comes after flashes of real speed at Silverstone and a recovery from P16 to P5 at Misano. Now there is a podium too.
A few days ago, we wrote that Tony’s speed had not disappeared.
At Motegi, he put it back on the podium.
LINK
Leggi: Marc Marquez wins the Japanese Sprint as Bastianini loses the podium to track limits
Guarda: MotoGP, GP del Giappone: gli highlights della gara a Motegi
