Made in Japan – Boris on Motegi

MotoGP 2025

Round 17 – Motegi Race Report

You don’t have to be any kind of Marc Marquez fan – and I’m so not – to both appreciate his amazing achievement, and to smile along as the emotions of winning another world title washed through him after Sunday’s race.

Of course, he was always going to win the title. Anyone who has followed this year’s championship could see that. His domination has been total, utter, and indisputable. The best rider on the best bike in the paddock was always going to win.

But, it’s also fair to say that the fact that defending world champion, Jorge Martin, has spent the year either not racing due to injury, or coming to terms with a whole new bike, only helped Marc cement his dominance.

Then there’s the whole strange Pecco Bagnaia thing. One would have thought that this two-time world champion, who has in the past fiercely contested with Marc and is now on the same bike, would have been more competitive. One would also have thought he would not have waited until Japan to become competitive. But he did. And although he won both races last weekend, none of that made any difference to Marc.

What might have made a small difference was Marc’s brother, Alex. Had he finished a bit better, he may have delayed Marc’s title by a round. But following a blistering run of form early in the year, Alex now seems to be more hit and miss with his podiums.

As far as Sunday’s race is concerned, it needs to be viewed through the prism of Saturday’s Sprint Race. And that was kicked off in a swirl of chaos. Jorge Martin, starting from 17^th on the grid, went balls-out up the inside, lost control of the bike just before Turn One, and wiped himself and his teammate, Bez, out. It was absolutely amazing that he took no-one else out, though a few riders did run off the track. It was a very nasty-looking stack, and it’s equally amazing that the only broken bones were Martin’s own collarbone.

So come Sunday, he was out, as was local hero, Ai Ogura. Ogura had come off in Misano and was still nursing all sorts of pain. He came a creditable ninth on Saturday, but the prospect of a much longer race was a bridge too far for the rookie.

Pecco, who I understand got his 24 swingarm fitted to his bike, in what had to have been a last-ditch attempt by Ducati to give him something he was competitive on, was shining like a diamond. Consistently fast and on pole, it would be selling him short to think Marc somehow let him have both of his wins. I’m certain that is not how a racer like Marquez works. As you will see when he makes every effort to win every remaining race this season, and never mind the championship.

Marc just wasn’t as fast as Pecco this weekend. But luck did attend Pecco in Sunday’s race. He hared off at the start like he did on Saturday and had eked out a solid lead, but then his Ducati started puffing smoke.

Suddenly, everyone was paying a lot of attention. Before that happened, Ducati was eagerly hauling out the Marc Championship T-shirts, chilling beer, and ordering limos to Tokyo for the celebration feast. Ducati had a one-two on Saturday, and it looked like a repeat on Sunday. And this time, Pecco would not be self-harming in the toilets because he came second-last. He, too, would have cause to celebrate.

However, the smoke intermittently coming out of his exhaust was unsettling. Surely his bike would not give up the ghost six laps from the end of the race? If Bagnaia had not yet booked himself into therapy or turned to drinking bad whiskey until he passed out, something like that might well tip him over.

Interestingly, his pace did not really slack off. The engine was going to die. The question was when. Now and again, his bike would emit some smoke from the exhaust. But it had not caught fire, or dumped its sump, so those were good things. He still had a four-odd second lead over Marc, and while it dropped to about two-seconds a few laps before the end, before going back up to four on the last lap, Pecco’s lap-times seemed to be consistent.

Could Marc have caught and passed him? I don’t believe so. His lap-times show no indication of that possibility. Pecco was just quicker this weekend.

Acosta, who had also been quick all weekend, had fried his tyres trying to stay on Pecco’s pace, and had started fading back, which had put DNF Master, Joan Mir, at the pointy end. Just seeing him dice with Marc Marquez a few times was brilliant.

Mir rode astonishingly well all weekend, wringing every bit of performance out of his twitchy-as Honda, and was starting second on the grid. And no-one was more surprised or pleased than him. Except maybe all the Honda executives at the track. It is Honda’s racetrack, after all. Where else would they be, and what else would they expect? And HRC has been steadily improving its bikes over the season.

Mir finished fourth on Saturday, and third on Sunday, giving him a podium, a place he hasn’t stood on for so long, almost everyone had forgotten he was a world champion in 2020.

The race itself was rather processional. The riders were spaced out, though now and again, a pair of them might have a bit of a dice. We saw that with Morbidelli and Bezz, and Raul Fernandez did torment Alex Marquez for as long as he could.

Acosta, fading back as he was, despite being the kind of racer who gives and asks no quarter, had some kind of brake issue, which saw him sail off the track in Turn One. He rejoined, but finished second-last ahead of Rins.

Jack Miller’s chain fell off and smashed his water-pump, so that’s like the fourth chain-issue in two rounds. Which I find a bit strange. And no, there are no control chains. Each team sources its own.

So that was the championship, but certainly not the season. It’s not suddenly going to get boring. Pecco is a mere 34 points behind Alex for second spot in the championship. And Bezz is not all that far away either. There’s a bit of money and prestige at stake for second and third place in the championship. No-one’s about to back off here.

And besides, Marc still has records to break and four more rounds to go. It is so going to be worth watching, and I’m not even a fan.

Motegi MotoGP Results

Motegi MotoGP Race Top Speeds

The average is from the best five speeds

MotoGP Championship Standings

Constructor Championship

2025 MotoGP Calendar

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