Francesco Bagnaia claimed his second win of the 2025 MotoGP season at the Japanese Grand Prix, leading home teammate Marc Marquez, who sealed his ninth world championship with a runner-up finish.
Marquez had already set himself up for the title by taking a podium in Saturday’s sprint, making his coronation at Motegi almost inevitable with five rounds still to go.
The Spaniard was in such a strong position in the standings that he could have conceded as many as six points to his nearest rival Alex Marquez in the race and still won the championship.
But with the Gresini rider having an unusually off weekend and finishing down in sixth, Marc Marquez, in fact, was able to extend his advantage to 201 points, well beyond the 185 he needed to seal the title.
The triumph marks Marquez’s ninth world crown across all classes and his seventh in MotoGP, drawing him level with long-time rival and foe Valentino Rossi on the all-time list.
At the start of the race, Bagnaia made the perfect launch to grab the holeshot into Turn 1, with Pedro Acosta jumping to second on the KTM ahead of the Honda of Joan Mir.
Acosta briefly challenged Bagnaia for the lead at Turn 5, but not only did the Italian resist his advances, he built out a lead of over a second by the end of lap 2.
Race start
Photo by: Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP via Getty Images
This left Acosta in the clutches of the other factory Ducati of Marquez, who had moved clear of Mir’s Honda on the opening lap to grab third.
Marquez spent a significant chunk of the race behind the KTM, even making a mistake at Turn 10 while trying to follow his countryman. He finally broke through on lap 11, pulling off a clean move into Turn 11.
By this time, however, Bagnaia had already pulled out an advantage of over three seconds, putting victory well beyond Marquez’s reach.
Tension rose in the Ducati garage when smoke began to pour out of Bagnaia’s bike on lap 15, with the issue recurring four laps later. However, such was the Italian’s advantage that his victory was never threatened, and he eventually took the chequered flag with a comfortable margin of four seconds.
Behind, Marquez crossed the finish line in second to celebrate a historic moment of his career, just over five years after the Jerez crash that nearly forced him into an early retirement.
Marquez’s former team Honda also had reasons to celebrate, as Mir cleared Acosta on lap 14 to snatch the final spot on the podium. This was the 2020 champion’s maiden rostrum with the Japanese manufacturer, as well as the first for the factory HRC squad in 2025.
Acosta continued to plummet down the order and even ran off the road on lap 19, dropping to the rear of the pack.
Joan Mir, Honda HRC
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
This promoted the sole factory Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi into fourth, with the Italian having made early headway from ninth on the grid.
Fifth place went to Franco Morbidelli on the VR46 Ducati, while Alex Marquez had a relatively uneventful race en route to sixth as he officially dropped out of the title fight.
Raul Fernandez secured a solid seventh place on the Trackhouse Aprilia, while Fabio Quartararo could only manage eighth on Yamaha’s home turf after dropping from fourth to the lower regions of the top 10 on lap 2.
Johann Zarco was classified ninth for LCR Honda, while the top 10 was completed by Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer on last year’s Ducati GP24.
The top KTM finisher was Enea Bastianini in 11th, one spot ahead of Brad Binder, as Fabio Di Giannantonio, Miguel Oliveira and Somkiat Chantra completed the points places.
MotoGP Japanese GP – Race results:
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AloJapan.com