At Motegi the Spaniard flies across the water, he is now -3 behind Pecco and teases him: “It’s his turn to win, he’s in the official Ducati team”. The reply: “Without the stop I would have taken it again”
Who knows how it would have ended. Who knows what 12 laps of the race we would have seen if the rain at Motegi hadn’t become increasingly pouring, forcing the riders to clean the helmet visor with their hands or look to the side to let the drops slide away, before giving up, confused silhouettes in the clouds of water raised by the wheels that prevented them from seeing what was happening in front of them. The first to raise his hand, invoking a red flag that could no longer be postponed, was Aleix Espargaro, who had also fitted the softest wet tire on the Aprilia, and who in those conditions of soaked asphalt had the most to gain from it than anyone else. Immediately afterwards, at the same time, Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, two of the three on the podium, imitated him. The Japanese GP ended like this, because the rain did not decrease in intensity and the evening shadows that were threateningly advancing forced the Race Direction to decree a stop. For the happiness of Jorge Martin, who 24 hours after his triumph in the Sprint also took home the GP, the third victory on Sunday which is also the third double of the year, given that the Pramac tip had also made full loot.