Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia bounced back from recent woes to score a dominant victory in the Japanese Grand Prix sprint, while his teammate Marc Marquez inched closer to the title with a podium finish.
Bagnaia was never threatened during the 12-lap contest at Motegi, leading every single lap from pole position to clinch his first sprint win since last year’s Barcelona finale.
Marquez didn’t have the pace to fight at the front and finished almost two seconds behind Bagnaia, but with his brother Alex Marquez failing to score in the sprint, he heads to Sunday’s grand prix with one hand on the title.
At the start of the race, Bagnaia pulled away cleanly from pole position to lead the factory Honda of Joan Mir, with Pedro Acosta making a rapid launch from fourth on the grid to snatch third place from Marc Marquez into Turn 5.
Further back, reigning champion Jorge Martin lost control of his Aprilia under braking for Turn 1, taking out his Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi in a nasty crash.
With the yellow flags quickly cleared, Bagnaia continued to extend his advantage over the chasing pack, building a buffer of six tenths by the time Acosta grabbed second from Mir on lap 2.
Although Acosta was expected to be a more potent threat than Mir, Bagnaia had no trouble keeping him at bay, pulling out a lead of 1.5s in the first five laps.
The two-time MotoGP champion continued to cruise at the front, taking the top spot by 1.842s in his most competitive showing of the 2025 season.
Marquez recovered from a slow first lap to grab second behind Bagnaia after passing both Acosta and Mir at the final corner in quick succession.
While the 32-year-old initially struggled to overtake Mir, running wide on a number of occasions, he eventually managed to complete a block pass on lap 8.
The overtake on Acosta with three laps to go was much easier as the KTM rider struggled in the latter part of the sprint.
With Alex Marquez finishing a distant 10th at the end of a tough race, the Ducati star can wrap up the title on Sunday if he doesn’t concede more than six points to his brother.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Acosta hung on to third place at a track where he scored his maiden pole last year, while Mir likewise stayed in fourth to celebrate a big points haul for Honda on its home turf.
Fifth place went to Franco Morbidelli on the VR46 Ducati, while Fabio Quartararo was classified sixth on the factory Yamaha.
Luca Marini made it a double points finish for the factory Honda team in seventh, while the final points went to Trackhouse duo Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura in eighth and ninth respectively.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez, who had qualified eighth after advancing from Q1, dropped to ninth on the opening lap before tumbling to 10th place.
MotoGP Japanese GP – Sprint results:
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