MotoGP Japanese GP: Resurgent Francesco Bagnaia takes…

Francesco Bagnaia bounced back from a tough run of results to claim pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, while Marc Marquez moved a step closer to clinching the 2025 MotoGP title after qualifying on the front row.

Bagnaia set a new lap record at the rebranded Motegi Mobility Resort with a time of 1m42.911s to take the top spot by just under a tenth of a second from Honda’s Joan Mir, while Marquez took third place on a day his nearest rival and brother Alex Marquez could only secure eighth place on the grid.

Marc Marquez laid the initial benchmark as Q2 began, setting a time of 1m43.413s on the factory Ducati. But as the Spaniard backed out of his next lap and returned to the pits, he was usurped by a resurgent Bagnaia, who snatched the top spot by seven-hundredths of a second.

Fabio Quartararo propelled his Yamaha to third place just minutes later, demoting Friday practice pacesetter Marco Bezzecchi to fourth, while Alex Marquez trailed in eighth place following the first runs after coming through from Q1.

Lap times tumbled as riders returned on track on fresh tyres in the second half of the session, with Franco Morbidelli, Marc Marquez and even Mir taking turns at the top of the timesheets.

But Bagnaia moved the goalposts with just 20 seconds left on the clock, setting the first sub-1m43s lap time at Motegi to wrest control of qualifying again.

Although several other riders had time to complete their final flying laps, none could come anywhere close to the Italian, who secured his first pole position since the Czech GP in July.

Mir missed out on a maiden MotoGP pole by 0.092s, but with second place he secured his best qualifying result with Honda – fittingly on the Japanese marque’s home turf.

Championship leader Marquez was 0.132s off the pace in third place, but has a strong chance of wrapping up his ninth world championship – and seventh in MotoGP – on Sunday after his brother Alex could only manage the eighth-fastest time with Gresini.

Meanwhile, KTM’s Pedro Acosta put in a solid effort to qualify fourth on the grid, despite a suspected ride-height device issue confining him to a single run in qualifying.

Joining him on the second row of the grid will be Quartararo and the top VR46 Ducati of Franco Morbidelli, who took sixth after coming through from Q1.

Seventh place went to Luca Marini on the factory Honda ahead of Alex Marquez, while Marco Bezzecchi was the best qualifier for Aprilia in ninth.

Rounding out the top 10 was Raul Fernandez on the Trackhouse Aprilia, while Johann Zarco and Fabio di Giannantonio finished 11th and 12th for LCR and VR46 respectively.

Ai Ogura, Trackhouse Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images)

Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura will start the race from 13th on the grid after late yellow flags – triggered by crashes for Alex Rins and Brad Binder at separate corners – prevented him from progressing into Q2.

Pramac rider Jack Miller was 14th quickest, with Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer just four-thousandths of a second adrift in 15th after going down at Turn 15 just minutes after setting his fastest lap.

Miller’s team-mate Miguel Oliveira followed Alex Marquez out of the pits but could only manage 16th, while reigning champion Jorge Martin also had a tough day on the factory Aprilia, ending up 17th.

Three KTMs were knocked out in Q1, with factory rider Binder languishing in 18th after his crash and Tech3 duo Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales doing no better than 21st and 23rd respectively.

Japanese GP - Q2 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	8	1'42.911		167.947
2	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	8	+0.092 1'43.003	0.092	167.797
3	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	7	+0.132 1'43.043	0.040	167.731
4	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	4	+0.158 1'43.069	0.026	167.689
5	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	7	+0.244 1'43.155	0.086	167.549
6	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	7	+0.259 1'43.170	0.015	167.525
7	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	8	+0.348 1'43.259	0.089	167.381
8	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	8	+0.360 1'43.271	0.012	167.361
9	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	8	+0.412 1'43.323	0.052	167.277
10	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	8	+0.442 1'43.353	0.030	167.228
11	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	8	+0.631 1'43.542	0.189	166.923
12	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	8	+0.660 1'43.571	0.029	166.876
View full results

Q1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	6	1'43.253		167.390
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	8	+0.014 1'43.267	0.014	167.368
3	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	8	+0.176 1'43.429	0.162	167.105
4	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	8	+0.197 1'43.450	0.021	167.072
5	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	5	+0.201 1'43.454	0.004	167.065
6	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	8	+0.298 1'43.551	0.097	166.909
7	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	1	Aprilia	7	+0.334 1'43.587	0.036	166.851
8	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	6	+0.441 1'43.694	0.107	166.678
9	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	7	+0.665 1'43.918	0.224	166.319
10	T. Nakagami Honda HRC Test Team	30	Honda	8	+0.829 1'44.082	0.164	166.057
11	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	8	+0.925 1'44.178	0.096	165.904
12	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	8	+0.939 1'44.192	0.014	165.882
13	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	7	+1.457 1'44.710	0.518	165.061
View full results