The World Championship leader saw his lead slightly increased after Pecco Bagnaia crashed on the last lap of the Japanese Grand Prix
The Japanese Grand Prix did not disappoint at all in MotoGP. The favorites to win the World Cup staged a tremendous marking in which the winner was the Leader Fabio Quartararo, who increased his lead by eight points over his pursued thanks to the Zeros by Pecco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaró.
The race was the most atypical with Jack Miller taking the victory, while from behind they ‘killed’ between Quartararo, bagnaiaThe third, Bagnaia’s future teammate, disobeyed team orders putting his teammate under extreme pressure during the final laps.
The result was that Pecco fell for the fifth time this season. “I screwed up,” said the rider who applauded after what happened in a gesture perhaps directed at Ducati. The Italian brand is fighting for the World Cup and after coming back almost 100 points to Quartararo they may end up dying on the shore.
Bagnaia recovered from horrible training in the rain to fight head-to-head with a Quartararo who finished eighth, taking an eight-point lead over his greatest rival. Aleix Espargaró had problems with the limiter on his bike, finishing the race sixteenth.
That’s the way it is, Quartararo is 18 points ahead of Bagnaia and 25 over Espargaró with four races remaining for the conclusion of the World Cup. It was very noticeable that several riders had never raced at Motegi with a MotoGP when the circuit reappeared on the calendar three years later.
Mark complied
The one who did know the circuit like the back of his hand was a Marc Márquez who took pole position and who equaled his best race finish of the season with a fourth place finish. The Catalan looked strong, although he showed a lack of rhythm as the laps passed.
The callus will reappear in a Márquez who is trying to improve the discreet ninth position of Honda HRC in the Constructors’ World Cup. The pilot knows that he complied with the bosses of the factory in Japan, who had doubts about him after four operations on the humerus.
The World Cup does not stop and next week in Thailand it seems that there will be many things to clarify. Bastianini wants to be the judge of a World Cup in which Ducati has many interests and that perhaps they will talk to the Italian so that he lifts his foot with a Bagnaia that has already lost the streak that began at the beginning of the summer when he won four consecutive races.