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At the end of the Japanese Grand Prix Practice MotoGP On the Twin Ring of Motegi, the first seven are separated by only 0.318s, and if we add that Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) allowed South Africa to take the honours of the first day in Japan, 0,033 seconds ahead of Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), this first atypical 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, George Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), is only 0,099 seconds behind in third place, but where the reigning champion (although at the forefront until then) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) had to settle for seventh place, behind a brilliant Peter Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) for his first visit to Motegi on a premier class thoroughbred, a Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) crashing at turn 13 with just over 30 minutes remaining in the session before setting his fastest time, and a Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) very present on Friday.

Unfortunately, our representatives, fabio quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) 14th and Johann zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) 17th, not in a top 10 completed by Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), Fabio di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team).

Like yesterday, it rained last night, but this time the Moto3s did their entire session on wet ground, while a few Moto2 riders tried slicks a few minutes before the end of the Moto2 session, even though sector 3 remained wet.

The track is now completely dry and the MotoGP were able to complete FP2 on slick tyres. This was dominated by Francis Bagnaia and ended with the fall of Johann zarco in the very fast turn #6.

While waiting to discover more, as the 13 drivers 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 enjoy these few moments of live coverage thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

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)
All time lap record 1'43.198 Jorge Martin (See here) 1'43.018 Pedro Acosta (See here)

Qualification 1:

Even though he has just suffered a violent fall, John Zarco immediately sets off with his number 2 bike.

At the end of the first round, Jack Miller displays 1'44.432 ahead 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 Morbidelli, currently ninth, immediately lights the first two sectors in red. Johann zarco did the same but it was first the Italian who took the first line of the table in 1'43.746.

Alex Espargaro then comes to position itself in second place, immediately dislodged by Fabio Quartararo.

With one minute to go until 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.

Japanese Grand Prix Qualification 1 Standings MotoGP  2024 in Motegi:

Qualification 2:

A very light rain begins to fall on the circuit, which is not displeasing to Marc Márquez...

So we hurry off on slicks, all together, without seeing the usual "waiting for wheels" scenes. The white flags with red crosses are still waving.

Marc Márquez takes the lead of the peloton followed by Francis Bagnaia, but doesn't really attack. He even turns around...

The conditions are becoming tricky and the drivers are feeling on eggshells.

At the end of the first round, Marc Márquez precede Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Jorge Martin and Fabio Quartararo.

On the next lap, the Gresini driver got hot under braking but didn't give up and posted a 1'44.136 lead. Pedro Acosta, Jorge Martin, Brad Binder and Fabio Quartararo.

George Martin comes to rub the leather ofAlex Marquez with his front wheel, but he's the rookie Peter Acosta who takes the lead in operations 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 whose fastest lap and four seconds behind the fastest. What happens 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 from Peter Acosta.

On the next lap, he improved again and took provisional pole position, in 143264. But that was without taking into account the impressive Marc Márquez which then displays 1'42.868, almost 4/10 than the reigning world champion! New absolute record of the circuit!

One minute from the checkered flag, George Martin fall without seriousness at the ninth turn and will therefore have to be content to start in 9th position at best.

In the last seconds, Peter 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 of Marc Márquez is cancelled, for having "exceeded the limits of the track" at turn #4. We have not finished hearing about it and it is therefore Peter Acosta who inherits the new circuit record…

So we'll leave it there, with a very spectacular qualification, and races that promise to be no less so...

See you at 8:00 a.m. for the Sprint!

Japanese Grand Prix Qualification 1 Standings MotoGP  2024 in Motegi:

Credit rankings: MotoGP.com

MotoGP Japan Qualifying

MotoGP Japan Qualifying

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