Like every Monday after the races, Uri Puigdemont and Germán Garcia Casanova analyze the highlights of the weekend, in this case the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix, in which Jack Miller achieved an overwhelming victory ahead of a brilliant Brad Binder , who takes oil out of his KTM, and a resurgent Jorge Martín , who hadn’t been on the rig since Barcelona, in June.
But, surely, the most inconsequential thing about Motegi’s career was the podium, with the most important thing at stake in terms of the championship between eighth and tenth places, where, once again, Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini had it tough with several body fights melee with the aim of overtaking a Fabio Quartararo who completed the entire race lapping eighth and without any chance of overtaking the rider in front of him, Maverick Viñales . The Frenchman, leader of the contest, once again showed his weakest face at the motorcycle level, with a Yamaha that runs little and is absolutely non-existent when it comes to overtaking, which makes it impossible for the Frenchman to progress when he starts late on the grid, which Which has become commonplace lately.
For Bagnaia, who arrived in Japan with clear options even to come out as leader of the World Cup, a new mistake or sin of ambition, and optimism, took him to the ground, in the last lap, when trying to overtake, precisely, Quartararo, a zero that does not compromise his chances of fighting for the title, but it can undermine his confidence and cause some doubts to enter that can be dangerous, and more so in a garage like Ducati’s where the nerves and tensions are noticeable at a glance.
Garrafal Aprilia’s mistake, depriving Aleix Espargaró , due to a technical fault on the grid, of fighting in a race in which he looked strong and started ahead of his opponents in the fight for the championship. Two big mistakes this year, the victory celebration one lap early in Barcelona, and the one at Motegi, are undermining the Catalan’s options.
A weekend, that of Japan, which experienced Marc Márquez ‘s first complete race since his operation, the fourth in his right arm, and whose best news, beyond having achieved his first pole position in three years, and finishing the race fourth after overtaking Miguel Oliveira on the last lap, is that the rider claimed to have completed the 24 laps at Motegi without pain.
