Jorge Martin Penalized, Marc Marquez on a Roll: The New MotoGP World Championship Standings
Marc Marquez won the Sprint Race at Motegi, the final event on Saturday of the MotoGP weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix. The Catalan Ducati rider had no particular difficulties on the Japanese track, overtaking pole-sitter Jorge Martin (Aprilia) early on and cruising to an important victory for the championship.
Compared to Martin, who finished third due to a penalty for track limits, Marquez earned five points: in the overall standings, the Noale-based rider remains in first place with 313 points, but MM93 is closing in at 306, in a world title battle that is growing increasingly intense. Between the two contenders for the world title, the surprise of the day, Diogo Moreira, made his mark in the Japanese Sprint race: the LCR Honda rider finished in second place, effectively his best result in MotoGP.
Enea Bastianini also had an excellent race, finishing fourth on the Tech3 KTM: the rider from Romagna missed the podium due to a penalty similar to the one imposed on Martin for going off the track. Fifth place went to Ai Ogura on the Aprilia Trackhouse, who finished ahead of a struggling Marco Bezzecchi on his Aprilia, who was unable to keep up with the leaders’ pace over the course of the twelve-lap race.
Rounding out the points were Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), Raul Fernandez (Aprilia Trackhouse), and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha). Ranked from tenth place onward are Fermin Aldeguer (Ducati Gresini), Luca Marini (Honda), Franco Morbidelli (Ducati VR46), Alex Rins (Yamaha), Somkiat Chantra (Honda), Maverick Viñales (KTM Tech3), Jack Miller (Yamaha Pramac), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha Pramac), and Brad Binder (KTM).
Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati), who retired late in the race, was not classified, along with Pedro Acosta (KTM), Alex Marquez (Ducati Gresini), and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati VR46)—the latter three were involved in a crash shortly after the start. Di Giannantonio, incidentally, was taken to the track’s medical center for examination, which fortunately revealed no serious injuries.
Updated MotoGP Standings: Jorge Martin 313, Marc Marquez 306, Marco Bezzecchi 268, Pedro Acosta 234, Fabio Di Giannantonio 230, Ai Ogura 227, Raul Fernandez 205, Alex Marquez 158, Pecco Bagnaia 156, Fermin Aldeguer 115, Enea Bastianini 103, Luca Marini 98, Brad Binder 94, Diogo Moreira 74, Fabio Quartararo 62, Franco Morbidelli 56, Johann Zarco 48, Joan Mir 33, Jack Miller 28, Alex Rins 24, Toprak Razgatloglu 18, Maverick Viñales 10, Iker Lecuona 9, Augusto Fernández 6, Pol Espargaró 5, Takaaki Nakagami 3.
