Marquez wins Motegi sprint after Martin’s lap-record pole
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 3, 2026
Marquez sprint win
Marc Marquez won the 12-lap Motegi sprint after passing Jorge Martin at Turn 1 and holding the lead to the finish, and the result cut five points from Martin’s championship lead to leave him seven points ahead of Marquez. The sprint turned quickly after an early Turn 3 clash between Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta wiped out Acosta, Alex Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio. Martin stayed in the fight, but he could not recover the lead after Marquez’s move into the first corner.
The penalties at the end of the race reshaped the podium. Martin and Enea Bastianini were penalized for exceeding track limits on the final lap, which promoted Diogo Moreira to second for his first MotoGP podium. Martin was classified third.
Martin pole at Motegi
Martin took pole position for the Motul Grand Prix of Japan at Mobility Resort Motegi with a lap-record 1:42.371, beating Marquez by 0.110 seconds. It was his third pole of the season and his second straight pole. He had been set to start ahead of Marquez in both the sprint and Sunday’s race after qualifying.
Pedro Acosta qualified third, Marco Bezzecchi fourth and Alex Marquez fifth. Fabio di Giannantonio took sixth and Bastianini was seventh. Johann Zarco completed the top 10 after a crash, while Ai Ogura topped Q1 at his home race and qualified 11th after a crash limited him to one bike. Francesco Bagnaia qualified 13th.
Practice and crashes
Opening practice began in damp, rain-interrupted conditions before the track improved later in the sun, and Marquez set the pace there as well. He topped the session with a 1:44.073 lap, 0.099 seconds ahead of Martin.
The weekend also brought an injury blow for Takaaki Nakagami. He crashed in opening practice, fractured his left collarbone and was ruled out for the rest of the weekend.
