MotoGP 2026

Round 16 – Motegi

Friday morning at Motegi produced three very different opening sessions, with Moto3 and Moto2 enjoying dry running before MotoGP was greeted by a damp circuit for its first competitive laps on the new track surface.

The fresh tarmac had already shown plenty of potential in the smaller classes, particularly in Moto2 where the outright benchmark fell, but the moisture that arrived ahead of MotoGP FP1 made the first laps of the premier-class session a much more tentative affair.

The latest forecast still has Friday carrying the greatest chance of further showers, while the outlook for Saturday and Sunday is considerably more settled.

MotoGP FP1

The track was damp when pit lane opened for MotoGP FP1, although it was a long way from properly wet and riders headed out on slicks.

Marco Bezzecchi immediately discovered how little margin there was in places, saving the front on his opening lap before then dealing with a particularly lurid rear slide.

Takaaki Nakagami wasn’t so fortunate. The Japanese wildcard suffered a violent high-side before completing a lap, his Honda snapping him over the bars. Nakagami broke his collarbone in the crash and was ruled out of the remainder of his home Grand Prix weekend before recording a timed lap.

Those early incidents prompted most riders already on track to head back to the pits and wait for conditions to improve. Somkiat Chantra, Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlioglu were the notable exceptions and kept circulating.

The final lap counts illustrate just how different the programmes became from there. Chantra completed a session-high 21 laps, including 18 full laps; Razgatlioglu logged 19 laps and Miller 15. In stark contrast, Marc Marquez eventually topped FP1 despite completing only 10 laps in total, seven of them full laps.

As conditions improved, Raul Fernandez, Maverick Viñales, Francesco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin joined the action, while Bezzecchi returned after surviving his early scare. By the final third of the session, every rider still able to participate had been on track and the times began tumbling.

Marquez recorded a 1m44.214 on lap eight before lowering the benchmark to 1m44.073 on his tenth and final lap. That put the Ducati rider 0.099 seconds ahead of championship leader Martin and 0.133 clear of Bezzecchi.

The improving circuit was reflected throughout the leading order. Bezzecchi set his best time on lap 13 of 13, Alex Marquez went fourth with his final lap of 14, Zarco’s fifth-place time came on lap 13 of 14, while Fabio Quartararo produced his best on the last of his 11 laps.

Raul Fernandez made it three Aprilias inside the top seven, ahead of Bagnaia, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pedro Acosta. The top ten covered by seven-tenths.

Quartararo’s sixth place was also noteworthy against the speed figures. Zarco’s Honda reached 318.5 km/h, while Quartararo and Alex Rins recorded 310.3 km/h, and the Pramac Yamahas of Razgatlioglu and Miller topped out at 307.6 km/h.

The extra mileage accumulated by those who stayed circulating early didn’t translate directly into outright speed. Chantra was 14th despite his 21 laps; Razgatlioglu finished 16th after 19, while Miller ended FP1 22nd, 1.902 seconds behind Marquez after 15 laps.

Razgatlioglu also accumulated five track-limit infringements during that mileage, while Ai Ogura recorded four and Viñales three.

The official classification ultimately recorded the session as dry, with an ambient temperature of 18 degrees and track temperature of 23 degrees, but those figures don’t tell the full story of an opening phase clearly compromised by the damp surface.

Moto2 FP1

Moto2 had already shown how much pace the resurfaced Motegi could offer in dry conditions, with Manuel Gonzalez setting a new outright class benchmark on his final lap of FP1.

Gonzalez stopped the clocks at 1m47.551 on lap 17 to edge Filip Salac by only 0.023 seconds, while David Alonso was 0.146 from the top in third.

Daniel Holgado and Tony Arbolino rounded out a top five covered by three-tenths, with Izan Guevara sixth despite completing only nine laps in a single run.

Deniz Öncü was seventh ahead of Senna Agius, the Australian completing 17 laps and finishing 0.444 seconds behind Intact GP team-mate Gonzalez.

Barry Baltus and Ivan Ortola completed the top ten, while only 0.540 seconds separated Gonzalez from Alonso Lopez in 11th.

Moto3 FP1

Ryusei Yamanaka had opened proceedings by putting a Japanese rider on top in Moto3 FP1, producing a 1m55.676 on lap 12 of his 13-lap session.

David Muñoz was only 0.033 seconds slower despite completing just 10 laps, making his second place one of the stronger performances of the session on relatively limited mileage.

Alvaro Carpe was third, 0.233 seconds from Yamanaka, with Valentin Perrone only 0.002 further back. Championship leader Maximo Quiles opened the weekend fifth at +0.456, just ahead of Adrian Fernandez.

Quiles arrives at Motegi with an opportunity to secure the Moto3 World Championship. He started the weekend 131 points clear of Carpe and needs to leave Japan with an advantage of at least 150 points to wrap up the title.

Joel Kelso completed 14 laps aboard the GRYD Racing Honda and saved his fastest for last. His 1m56.624 put the Australian 13th, 0.948 seconds from Yamanaka.

Motegi MotoGP Friday FP1 Results

2026 MotoGP Championship Standings

Pos	Rider	Points
1	J. Martin	306
2	M. Marquez	294
3	M. Bezzecchi	264
4	P. Acosta	234
5	F. Di Giannantonio	230
6	A. Ogura	222
7	R. Fernandez	203
8	A. Marquez	158
9	F. Bagnaia	156
10	F. Aldeguer	115
11	L. Marini	98
12	E. Bastianini	97
13	B. Binder	94
14	D. Moreira	65
15	F. Quartararo	61
16	F. Morbidelli	56
17	J. Zarco	45
18	J. Mir	33
19	J. Miller	28
20	A. Rins	24
21	T. Razgatlioglu	18
22	M. Viñales	10
23	I. Lecuona	9
24	A. Fernandez	6
25	P. Espargaro	5
26	T. Nakagami	3
27	C. Crutchlow	0
28	J. Folger	0
29	L. Savadori	0
30	M. Pirro	0

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Moto2 Friday FP1 Results

	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap	Speed
1	M. Gonzalez	Kal	1m47.551	264.7
2	F. Salac	Kal	+0.023	263.4
3	D. Alonso	Kal	+0.146	263.4
4	D. Holgado	Kal	+0.273	260.8
5	T. Arbolino	Kal	+0.300	264.0
6	I. Guevara	Bos	+0.399	264.0
7	D. Öncü	Bos	+0.423	264.0
8	S. Agius	Kal	+0.444	260.8
9	B. Baltus	Kal	+0.509	261.5
10	I. Ortola	Kal	+0.535	261.5
11	A. Lopez	Kal	+0.540	259.6
12	C. Vietti	Bos	+0.614	264.0
13	A. Huertas	Kal	+0.702	262.1
14	D. Muñoz	Kal	+0.807	259.6
15	U. Orradre	Kal	+0.847	262.1
16	L. Lunetta	Bos	+0.957	262.1
17	A. Canet	Bos	+0.998	262.1
18	J. Roberts	Kal	+1.120	261.5
19	Z. vd Goorbergh	Kal	+1.166	261.5
20	A. Sasaki	Kal	+1.243	263.4
21	J. Rueda	Kal	+1.259	264.0
22	A. Escrig	For	+1.404	262.7
23	X. Zurutuza	For	+1.438	263.4
24	M. Aji	Kal	+1.445	260.2
25	S. Garcia	Kal	+1.450	262.7
26	T. Furusato	Kal	+2.028	262.1
27	M. Pawelec	Kal	+2.203	260.2

Moto2 Championship Standings

Pos	Rider	Points
1	M. Gonzalez	245.5
2	I. Guevara	210
3	I. Ortola	168.5
4	D. Alonso	155
5	S. Agius	149
6	D. Holgado	146
7	F. Salac	128
8	C. Vietti	123
9	A. Lopez	110.5
10	C. Veijer	75.5
11	D. Muñoz	68
12	A. Escrig	63
13	B. Baltus	60
14	T. Arbolino	55.5
15	J. Roberts	44
16	D. Öncü	38.5
17	A. Huertas	37
18	J. Rueda	31
19	L. Lunetta	23
20	A. Sasaki	19
21	A. Ferrandez	17.5
22	A. Canet	17.5
23	T. Furusato	15
24	Z. vd Goorbergh	12
25	S. Garcia	11
26	A. Piqueras	4
27	M. Aji	3
28	M. Ramirez	0
29	X. Zurutuza	0
30	U. Orradre	0
31	J. Navarro	0
32	D. Foggia	0
33	J. Roulstone	0
34	M. Pawelec	0

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Moto3 Friday FP1 Results

	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap	Speed
1	R. Yamanaka	KTM	1m55.676	220.8
2	D. Muñoz	KTM	+0.033	225.4
3	A. Carpe	KTM	+0.233	225.0
4	V. Perrone	KTM	+0.235	224.0
5	M. Quiles	KTM	+0.456	223.1
6	A. Fernandez	Hon	+0.457	220.8
7	J. Esteban	KTM	+0.531	224.5
8	D. Almansa	KTM	+0.589	221.3
9	S. Ogden	KTM	+0.683	223.6
10	M. Morelli	KTM	+0.793	223.1
11	G. Pini	Hon	+0.808	222.2
12	A. Cruces	KTM	+0.939	224.5
13	J. Kelso	Hon	+0.948	224.0
14	C. O’Gorman	Hon	+1.023	218.6
15	E. O’Shea	Hon	+1.054	222.2
16	V. Pratama	Hon	+1.067	221.7
17	R. Salmela	KTM	+1.080	224.5
18	M. Bertelle	KTM	+1.082	221.7
19	B. Uriarte	KTM	+1.110	223.6
20	Z. Mitani	Hon	+1.436	220.4
21	R. Ogiwara	KTM	+1.547	225.4
22	H. Danish	KTM	+1.578	219.0
23	K. Singhapong	Hon	+1.583	220.4
24	L. Rammerstorfer	Hon	+2.348	220.4
25	R. Moodley	KTM	+2.581	220.8
26	J. Rios	Hon	+4.758	217.7

Moto3 Championship Standings

Pos	Rider	Points
1	M. Quiles	306
2	A. Carpe	175
3	D. Almansa	174
4	B. Uriarte	174
5	M. Morelli	146
6	V. Perrone	118
7	H. Danish	101
8	V. Pratama	100
9	M. Bertelle	86
10	A. Cruces	73
11	G. Pini	70
12	R. Salmela	70
13	C. O’Gorman	69
14	J. Kelso	67
15	E. O’Shea	65
16	A. Fernandez	59
17	J. Esteban	59
18	D. Muñoz	52
19	J. Rios	49
20	R. Yamanaka	31
21	S. Ogden	30
22	D. Gonzalez	7
23	M. Uriarte	6
24	C. Buchanan	5
25	L. Rammerstorfer	4
26	Z. Mitani	2
27	R. Moodley	1
28	K. Singhapong	1
29	N. Carraro	0
30	L. Abruzzo	0
31	E. Gutierrez	0

2026 MotoGP Calendar

Rnd	Date	Event	Circuit
1	01 Mar	Thai	Chang International Circuit
2	22 Mar	Brazil*	Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna
3	29 Mar	US	Circuit of the Americas
4	26 Apr	Spain**	Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto
5	10 May	France	Le Mans
6	17 May	Catalonia	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
7	31 May	Italy	Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
8	07 Jun	Hungary	Balaton Park Circuit
9	21 Jun	Czech	Automotodrom Brno
10	28 Jun	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen
11	12 Jul	Germany	Sachsenring
12	09 Aug	GB	Silverstone Circuit
13	30 Aug	Aragon	MotorLand Aragon
14	13 Sep	San Marino	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
15	20 Sep	Austria	Red Bull Ring-Spielberg
16	04 Oct	Japan	Mobility Resort Motegi
17	11 Oct	Indonesia	Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit
18	25 Oct	Australia	Phillip Island
19	01 Nov	Malaysia	Petronas Sepang International Circuit
20	08 Nov	Qatar	Lusail International Circuit
21	22 Nov	Portugal	Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
22	29 Nov	Valencia	Circuit Ricardo Tormo

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