Martin hunting down Bagnaia in Japanese showdown

Jorge Martin will be looking to snatch the MotoGP championship race in today’s Japanese Grand Prix after making another major move forward in the Sprint, while Jack Miller is back in the mix.

A hat-trick of Sprint wins has seen Martin slash Francesco Bagnaia’s championship lead to just eight points.

As Martin claimed a commanding 1.4s win over Brad Binder, Bagnaia could only manage third after winning a titanic battle for the podium with Australia’s Jack Miller, who was back at the front and fighting hard at the Twin Ring Motegi.

With all the momentum behind the Pramac Ducati rider, who also starts on pole ahead of Bagnaia, he will be hopeful of gaining more ground in the Grand Prix where he could even takeover the lead for the first time.

A strong qualifying performance saw Miller join title challengers Martin and Bagnaia on the front row with the Pramac Ducati rider on pole.

The #89 got the best jump and enjoyed an untroubled run into the lead as both KTMs of Miller and Binder slipped down the inside of Bagnaia at turn one, restricting the factory Ducati to fourth.

Bezzecchi also lost two spots to sixth as the field safety negotiated the first lap.

Miller held second until the end of the final straight where Binder made a dive on the Australian at the 90 degree turn 11.

A 0.7s gap established between the leading trio and Bagnaia, who had Marc Marquez for close company.

Bezzecchi was also battling, falling to seventh having lost out to the sister Pramac Ducati of Johann Zarco.

All 20 riders did their best times on lap three but none could match Martin, who was starting to creep away from Binder, while Miller was a further second back.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro retired after four laps due to mechanical dramas.

The race settled down with no overtakes in the top 10 but Bagnaia was starting to threaten the rear wheel of Miller.

Marquez had also dropped away from the factory Ducati and was now under pressure from Zarco and Bezzecchi.

But it was the VR46 rider who made the first move, retaking sixth from Zarco at turn 11.

A lap later Bezzecchi tried to pull off the same move on Marquez, but got it wrong as both the satellite Ducati and Repsol Honda ran off, inviting Zarco to jump to fifth.

The action continued at the right hander as Bagnaia lined up a move on Miller for third at the end of the main straight.

Despite coming up alongside the KTM the Ducati could not get by the late-braking Australian.

Miller’s resistance also proved too much at turns three and seven, but a mistake on the exit of turn 11 allowed the Italian to finally claim the podium place.

Bezzecchi had another attempt at getting by Marquez and at turn seven on lap 11 and this time he made it stick.

Despite coming under pressure from Zarco, Miller held onto a hard-earned fourth place in a promising return to form.

He could be one of the contenders as he aims to score back to back Japanese Grand Prix wins, but all eyes will be one Martin v Bagnaia with the championship on a knife’s edge.

The race begins at 17.00 AEST.

2023 Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix Sprint results

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