There are three minutes left until the warm-up lap starts. The reconnaissance car takes to the track. We will see what the decision of the race direction is. Meanwhile, the track begins to clear. The pilots are left alone.
Concerned faces in the teams. It seems like more raindrops are falling again. Tense moment waiting for the organization to announce whether the race will be declared dry or wet.
Ten minutes until the race starts! The Japanese anthem is already playing on the circuit.
And at the moment, uncertainty in Motegi due to the weather situation. It is cloudy but the race will probably be declared dry. In any case, we will have to be careful because the rain could appear and give a shock. Strategy is going to be key again.
Things are going worse for the Catalan GP champion, Aleix Espargaró. The Catalan from Aprilia already had to abandon in India and yesterday he had technical problems again that left him out of the sprint.
“I don’t really know what to say, in Buddh a peripheral – auxiliary device of the electronic system – on the bike broke in qualifying, again in the long race and again here, also damaging the engine a lot, so we have to change it. I don’t know what to say,” Espargaró lamented after yesterday’s appointment.
“I get to the races and I’m proving to be very competitive and here I was fifth again and riding very fast, but I can’t do more, and that takes away the enthusiasm and desire of anyone. The truth is that now I would go home “He stated dismayed.
“It’s clear that mentally I’m in a good place and that’s why I don’t want to play too much, there are even times when I don’t feel comfortable with the bike, but I prefer to leave everything the same and continue, because I know that the bike is working and when I’ve had good seasons in my career I did the same, knowing what bike I have and not touching anything,” explained the Pramac rider.
Regarding this option of obtaining the leadership, Martín stated yesterday that he continues to have “the same relationship with him, nothing changes for me, although if he changes this relationship it does not depend on me, but we have a good relationship and I think that now it is It is important not to change the mentality, which is being the key and tomorrow I hope to do my race and see where he ends up.”
The Pramac driver from Madrid, with that victory, was able to once again cut points from the championship leader, who, remember, crashed in the Indian GP, losing an important balance of points. Today, Martín has it in his power to surpass the official Ducati team rider. To do this, all you have to do is repeat the sprint podium, with Martín first and Pecco third. And Jorge is only eight points behind the leader in the general standings. 299 by 291.
Jorge Martín not only took pole position yesterday, but also won the sprint, to win his fifth short race of the course, the third of the season. Brad Binder and Pecco Bagnaia joined him on the podium.
This morning, with the track wet from the rain, Jack Miller was the fastest in the warm up with a time of 1:46.47. Marc Marquez was second, followed by Quartararo, 6th Martin, 7th Bagnaia and 11th Bezzecchi.
Alex Márquez and Alex Rins do not participate in this event in Motegi. The first was injured in the last Indian GP, while the second was tested on Friday and after finishing training with intense pain he was not medically cleared to run.
The Italians Enea Bastianini and Luca Marini will also not be there.
We find the next Spaniard in the fourth row. Raúl Fernández will start eleventh, alongside Johan Zarco. The Spanish participation closes Augusto Fernández and Joan Mir, thirteenth and fifteenth, respectively.
Bezzecchi, who is third overall in the drivers’ standings, will start in the second row; Brad Binder, second yesterday in the sprint race; and Fabio Di Gianantonio.
The third row will be completely Spanish, with Marc Márquez, Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró. The Catalan rider had problems again yesterday with his Aprilia, as had already happened in India, and had to abandon the short race.
And now, we go into MotoGP mode. We remember that Jorge Martín took pole position yesterday and will start from the first position on the grid, accompanied on the front row by Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller.
The ‘Tiburon de Mazarrón’ with this third place adds its eleventh podium of the year and remains at the head of the championship with 252 points, compared to the 202 added by the second place finisher, the Italian Tony Arbolino.
In Moto2, the victory went to the Thai Somkiat Chantra in a good day for Team Asia, which managed to place its two riders on the podium, with Ai Ogura second. In the third step is the leader of the category, Pedro Acosta.
The Algemesí driver thus adds his third victory this season and replaces the also Spanish, Dani Holgado, at the top of the table. For the Leopard driver, this has been one of the most important races.
Before getting into MotoGP mode we review what has happened in the other two categories of the World Championship.
We start with the small category, where Jaume Masiá, who started from pole, took the victory and, in addition, is the leader of the championship with 199 points.