Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) took advantage of a fall from Pedro Acosta (KTM) to win the sprint race at the Japanese GP. The Italian thus comes back to 15 points behind the world championship leader Jorge Martin (Ducati), 4th in Motegi.
Starting in pole position, rookie Pedro Acosta (KTM), reigning Moto2 world champion, made a mistake four laps from the end. In search of a first success in the premier category, the 20-year-old Spaniard then led the race with more than a second ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.
Double defending champion in MotoGP and 2nd on the grid, Bagnaia took the opportunity to pick up his sixth victory of the season in the sprint, the third in a row in the specialty. He nevertheless trembled until the end, Enea Bastianini (2nd) failing at 0”181 and Marc Marquez (3rd) at 0”349.
Winner of the main race in Indonesia, Jorge Martin for his part conceded 2”498 to Francesco Bagnaia, whose deficit goes from 21 to 15 points in the world championship. The Spaniard, only 11th on the grid, limited the damage thanks to a great start which allowed him to find himself 5th after just a few turns.
ats/efas
