Bagnaia and Martin back on form as Motegi MotoGP begins
MotoGP

Bagnaia and Martin back on form as Motegi MotoGP begins

by Matt Beer
3 min read

Opening practice for MotoGP's 2025 Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi had a distinctly 2023/24 feel to it as erstwhile title rivals Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin led the way.

Bagnaia was on top for Ducati for most of the session, was briefly pipped by team-mate Marc Marquez - who has a good chance of wrapping up the championship in Sunday's main race - then went faster again to end the session on top with a 1m44.857s lap.

It's the first time all year that Bagnaia has led a Friday morning session, but not the only time he has looked quick at some point during a Friday - only for things to go awry again almost every time as the weekend progressed.

But Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi insisted this time the breakthrough was real and the result of concerted efforts at the Misano post-race test, where Bagnaia reported he had worked mostly on weight distribution.

Reigning champion Martin's focus in the Misano test had been single-lap pace - an area he has struggled since his Aprilia season finally began properly in July after his run of injuries. That Misano focus looked like it was paying off as Martin nipped between the factory Ducatis in the closing moments, 0.093 seconds slower than Bagnaia - though with the caveat that Martin was one of the few to run new tyres at the end, including a soft rear.

Aprilia needed that from Martin after a morning in which his team-mate Marco Bezzecchi had crashed twice at different downhill right-handers, his first crash doing plenty of damage to his bike and happening almost simultaneously with a crash elsewhere on the track for Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez.

Two riders who really did crash simultaneously were VR46 Ducati's Franco Morbidelli and Pramac Yamaha's Jack Miller, who ended up very close together in the Turn 5 gravel after losing it seconds apart. Enea Bastianini crashed his Tech3 KTM elsewhere at the same time.

Honda made a strong start to its home weekend. Luca Marini was in the top three for a while before ending up fifth between VR46 team-mates Fabio Di Giannantonio and Morbidelli, while Somkiat Chantra looked by far the best he has in what will probably his sole MotoGP season has he sat as high as seventh and ended the morning ninth. Chantra won from pole at Motegi in Moto2 two years ago.

Results

1 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) 1m44.857s
2 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.093s
3 Marc Marquez (Ducati) +0.102s
4 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.271s
5 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.302s
6 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.305s
7 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.343s
8 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +0.370s
9 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) +0.421s
10 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) +0.500s
11 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.515s
12 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.566s
13 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +0.642s
14 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.643s
15 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +0.643s
16 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.660s
17 Taka Nakagami (Honda) +0.831s
18 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.874s
19 Brad Binder (KTM) +0.893s
20 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +0.902s
21 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +0.960s
22 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +1.008s
23 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +1.009s

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks