At the end of Practice for the Japanese MotoGP Grand Prix on the Motegi Twin Ring, the top seven are separated by only 0.318s, and if we add that Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) allowed the South Africa won the honors of the first day in Japan, 0.033 seconds ahead of Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), this atypical first act alone is enough to justify the impatience we have to discover the rest of the piece …
A piece in which the Sprint specialist and championship leader, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), is only 0.099 seconds behind in third place, but where the reigning champion (yet at the front until then) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) had to settle for seventh place, behind a brilliant Pedro Acosta
(Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) for his first visit to Motegi on a thoroughbred in the premier category, a Enea Bastianini
(Ducati Lenovo Team) falling at turn 13 just over 30 minutes from the end of the session before setting his best time, and a Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) very present on Friday.
Unfortunately, our representatives, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy
Yamaha MotoGP) 14e et Johann Zarco
(Castrol Honda LCR) 17th, do not appear in a top 10 completed by Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™),
Fabio di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) et Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team).
Like yesterday, it rained last night, but this time the Moto3s completed their entire session in the wet, while a few Moto2 riders tried the slicks a few minutes before the end of the Moto2 session, even if sector 3 remains wet.
The track is now completely dry and the MotoGP riders were able to complete FP2 with slick tires. This was dominated by
Francesco Bagnaia and ended with the fall of Johann Zarco in the very fast turn #6.
While waiting to discover more, as the 13 pilots prepare for this first 15-minute qualifying session, under a still threatening sky with morning temperatures of 21° in the air and 25° on the ground, let’s take advantage of these few live moments thanks to the official MotoGP.com website:
Here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.
| MotoGP™ Japan, Motegi | 2023 | 2024 |
| FP1 | 1’45.192 Jorge Martin (See here) | 1’45.209 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) |
| Practice | 1’43.489 Brad Binder (See here) | 1’43.436 Brad Binder (See here) |
| FP2 | 1’44.622 Marco Bezzecchi (See here) | 1’44.569 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) |
| Q1 | 1’43.997 Marc Marquez (See here) | 1’43.746 Franco Morbidelli (See here) |
| Q2 | 1’43.198 Jorge Martin (See here) | 1’43,018 Pedro Acosta (See here) |
| Sprint | Martin, Binder, Bagnaia (See here) | (See here) |
| Warm Up | 1’46.047 Jack Miller (See here) | (See here) |
| Course | Martin, Bagnaia, M.Marquez (See here) | (See here) |
| Record | 1’43.198 Jorge Martin (See here) | 1’43,018 Pedro Acosta (See here) |
Qualification 1 :
Even if he has just suffered a violent fall, Johann Zarco sets off straight away with his number 2 motorbike.
At the end of the first round, Jack Miller
displays 1’44.432 in front Aleix Espargaro, Augusto Fernandez, Raul Fernandez, Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco.
The white flags with red crosses announce a few drops of rain but that does not prevent the Australian from improving to 1’44.296, this time in front of an incredible Johann Zarco !
Raul Fernandez However, he comes between the two men, taking the Frenchman out of Q2 for the moment.
There are five minutes left when the drivers set off for the second and final run.
Franco Morbidelliat the moment ninth, immediately lights the first two sectors in red. Johann Zarco does the same but it is first of all the Italian who takes the first row in the table in 1’43.746.
Aleix Espargaro then comes to position itself in second place, immediately dislodged by Fabio Quartararo.
With one minute to go before the checkered flag, no one seems able to dislodge the Frenchman, and so it is Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo who are allowed to join their 10 comrades already preselected for Q2.
Ranking of Qualification 1 of the Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP 2024 in Motegi:
Qualification 2 :
A very light rain begins to fall on the circuit, which does not displease Marc Marquez…
So we hurry off on slicks, all together, without seeing the usual “wheel waiting” scenes. The white flags with red crosses are still waved.
Marc Marquez takes the lead of the peloton followed by
Francesco Bagnaiabut doesn’t really attack. He even turns around…
The conditions are becoming tricky and we feel the drivers are on eggshells.
At the end of the first round, Marc Marquez
precedes Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Jorge Martin and Fabio Quartararo.
On the following lap, the Gresini driver had a hard time braking but didn’t give up and posted a 1’44.136 ahead.
Pedro Acosta, Jorge Martin, Brad Binder and Fabio Quartararo.
Jorge Martin comes to rub the leatherAlex Márquez with his front wheel, but he’s the rookie Pedro Acosta who took the lead in 1’43.758.
At mid-session, the hierarchy is made up of Pedro Acosta, Enea Bastianini, Marco Bezzecchi, Marc Márquez, Brad Binder, Jorge Martin, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Alex Márquez, Fabio Quartararo, Franco Morbidelli, Maverick Vinales and Francesco Bagnaia including the best lap and four seconds from the fastest. What’s happening to the reigning champion?
The number #1 then reassures his fans by producing his effort, which leads him to provisional second place, at 38/1000 of
Pedro Acosta.
On the next lap, he improved again and took provisional pole position, in 143264. But that’s without counting on the impressive Marc Marquez who then displays 1’42.868, almost 4/10 than the reigning world champion! New absolute circuit record!
One minute from the checkered flag, Jorge Martin
a minor fall at turn nine and will therefore have to be content to start in 9th position at best.
In the last seconds, Pedro Acosta et
Enea Bastianini light the second sector in red but the Italian loses time in the third and the Spaniard in the last.
It was then that an official message announced that the time to
Marc Marquez is canceled, for having “exceeded the limits of the track” at turn #4. We haven’t heard the last of it and so it’s Pedro Acosta who inherits the new circuit record…
So we leave it there, with a very spectacular qualification, and races which promise to be no less spectacular…
See you at 8:00 a.m. for the Sprint!
Ranking of Qualification 1 of the Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP 2024 in Motegi:
Rankings credit: MotoGP.com
MotoGP Japan Qualifying
MotoGP Japan Qualifying
