3.
08:08
Mistake Martin
Martin misjudges the curve and has to avoid the long lap penalty. This means he loses important positions and is back in ninth place. He is now behind Bagnaia and also Bezzecchi.
3.
08:06
Pirro stays outside
But it seems to be only a matter of time before the field sorts itself out again. Jorge Martin is the team’s first pursuer on the slicks. At the end of the second lap, Quartararo and Chrutchlow also come into the pits. Pirro is still in front.
2.
08:04
Pirro collects leading kilometers
The entire front field comes into the pits after one lap and changes their bikes. Who stayed outside? Michele Pirro leads the race ahead of Fabio Quartararo and Stefan Bradl. The other two Yamahas from Morbidelli and Crutchlow also fell by the wayside. All other pilots switched to their spare bike.
1.
08:03
Vinales and Zarco go far
The start didn’t go particularly well for Johann Zarco and Maverick Vinales. Both have to go wide in turn one and Vinales ends up in the gravel. Zarco remains seated, but returns to 20th place.
1.
08:02
Martin leads the field
The drivers are back on the starting grid and the start will take place in a few seconds. Who comes off best? Jack Miller gets off the line well and takes second place. But once again nobody can beat Jorge Martin and he goes into the corner first. The white flags are waved immediately, which means that the pilots can now switch to their spare bike.
08:00
Warm-up lap is underway
It’s time for the warm-up lap. Despite the rain getting a bit heavier, those responsible seem to want to get the start off on time.
07:54
Question mark behind the weather
The rain flags were waved during the driver inspection round. There is no rain in the TV picture, but it is quite cloudy. If it doesn’t get wetter in the short term, the race will start as a “dry race”, which means all drivers will start off with slicks. But the rain bikes are already ready in the pits for a possible flag-to-flag race. Once again as a reminder. If the rain gets heavier during the race, the MotoGP riders can come back to the pits and jump on their second motorcycle. However, each driver decides individually whether to change. The rain experts like Jack Miller or Marc Márquez could then possibly cause a surprise.
07:49
21 drivers at the start
Who else is there? Alex Rins attempted a comeback in Japan, but had to end it after training Friday. The pain in his broken leg is simply too great for the duration of a race weekend. The German Stefan Bradl will get on the LCR Honda for him. Alex Márquez and Luca Marini were injured last race weekend and were unable to travel to Japan. Neither will be replaced by their team yet. Test driver Michele Pirro is still on the road for Enea Bastianini. Carl Crutchlow is also moving into the starting field as he will be testing a new version of the Yamaha M1.
07:44
All World Cup competitors close together
In addition, Jorge Martin will start from pole position again and has the best starting position for a fault-free race. But next to him are his closest competitors. Francesco Bagnaia put his Ducati in second place. Marco Bezzecchi is in fourth place behind Martin. Jack Miller, who no longer has anything to do with the World Championship, is in third place. Nevertheless, he is happy about his comeback on the front row of the grid. KTM has delivered a new chassis, which helps Miller and Binder enormously.
07:36
Will Jorge Martin achieve the next double?
After Jorge Martin has already won the sprint and main race at the German Grand Prix and the San Marino Grand Prix, he could do the same in Japan. He already has his safe start-finish victory in the sprint in his pocket. If he continues like this today, there could be a hat trick. And not only that. Thanks to his outstanding form, the Martinator reduced his gap to World Championship leader Pecco Bagnaia to a meager eight points. Here too, everything is now open again.
07:25
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to the Japanese Grand Prix. The main MotoGP race is about to begin. It should start at 8 a.m. German time!