Marc Márquez clinched victory in the early hours of this Saturday as he won the Sprint at the Japanese Grand Prix, the 16th round of the 2026 MotoGP season. The weekend’s short race held at the Motegi circuit saw the Ducati rider seize the lead right from the start of the 12-lap contest and maintain his advantage over the field to cross the line first.
A segunda posição ficou com Diogo Moreira, brasileiro da LCR Honda que, após cruzar a linha de chegada em quarto, viu Jorge Martín e Enea Bastianini serem punidos por não respeitarem os limites de pista. Martín, pilotando a Aprilia, terminou em terceiro, enquanto Bastianini, com uma KTM da Tech3, ficou em quarto. Ai Ogura, com uma Aprilia da Trackhouse, completou o top cinco.
Marco Bezzecchi, que escolheu pneus mais duros para a corrida, fechou na sexta posição com a Aprilia, à frente de Johann Zarco, sétimo com a outra Honda da LCR. Raúl Fernández, com a Trackhouse Aprilia, assegurou o oitavo lugar. A zona de pontos foi fechada por Fabio Quartararo, nono na Yamaha. Fermín Aldeguer, numa Ducati da Gresini, foi décimo.
The Japanese MotoGP Grand Prix will take place on Sunday (the 4th), with the start scheduled for 2:00.
Here’s how the Sprint went:
The sprint at Motegi began with Marc Márquez grabbing the lead by overtaking Jorge Martín in the opening corner. Marco Bezzecchi moved into third, followed by Enea Bastianini and Diogo Moreira. Álex Márquez slid and crashed, taking down Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pedro Acosta at turn 3 early in the first lap. All retired.
Ai Ogura advanced into the top five by overtaking Moreira on the second lap, while Márquez and Martín opened away at the front. Bezzecchi, sitting third with a harder tire option, came under pressure from Bastianini, who managed to pass him on the third lap of the race.
Márquez pulled away by seven tenths over Martín on the third lap. Ogura attempted a pass on Bezzecchi but failed to complete the move, and Moreira overtook him in the race’s fourth lap. A lap later, the LCR Honda rider also overtook the Italian on the Aprilia, claiming fourth place. A little further back, Raúl Fernández passed Johann Zarco to take seventh.
Ogura passed Bezzecchi on lap five and rejoined the group of five ahead. In front, Márquez held a seven-tenths lead over Martín, while Bastianini remained third, unable to close the gap to the leaders but not being attacked by Moreira, who was fourth at the end of the sixth lap.
In the mid-pack, Zarco regained seventh from Fernández on lap seven of the 12-lap race. Moreira, in turn, reduced the gap to Bastianini to less than one second. Fabio Quartararo, ninth, was pressured by Luca Marini and Fermín Aldeguer, battling for the final points-paying position.
Márquez could not extend his advantage over Martín, but he also did not allow his rival to close in. With four laps to go, Brad Binder ran wide on the gravel, losing several positions. By the end of the ninth lap, the Ducati rider had increased the gap to the championship leader to 1.2 seconds.
The race entered the final two laps with Moreira closing on Bastianini, while Ogura, after a mistake, dropped back from the Brazilian. On the final lap, Francesco Bagnaia dropped to the back of the grid. Márquez went on to win, followed by Martín, who faced pressure from Bastianini and Moreira in the closing meters. Ogura finished fifth.
After the race, Martín and Bastianini were penalized for not respecting track limits and each lost one position. Thus, Moreira was promoted to second place.
