Martin Sets Circuit Record to Edge Marquez for Back-to-Back Poles at Japanese GP

MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin secured pole position in a dramatic qualifying session at the Japanese Grand Prix, edging out Marc Marquez by a single tenth of a second.

Although Martin was the slower of the two factory Aprilia riders for much of the weekend, he escalated his performance during Q2, slashing the circuit record to 1m42.371s. The move secured his third pole position of the season and his second consecutive weekend on the front row.

Marquez was unable to improve upon his lap time during his second run, ultimately settling for second place aboard the factory Ducati, while Austrian Grand Prix winner Pedro Acosta claimed the final front-row spot.

Q2 began with Friday’s fastest man, Alex Marquez, setting the initial benchmark on the Gresini Ducati with a lap of 1m42.878s on his opening flying run at Motegi.

His elder brother, Marc Marquez, soon overtook the benchmark, recording 1m42.481s to break the track record and establish a four-tenth-second advantage over the rest of the field.

Alex Marquez attempted to respond on his next flying lap but finished just a tenth of a second adrift, leaving the factory Ducati on provisional pole following the opening runs.

As the field rejoined for the final five minutes, the Aprilias posed a stiffer challenge against the Ducati-mounted Marquez brothers, keeping the outcome wide open until the final seconds.

Raul Fernandez initially surged from 12th to third for Trackhouse, but Martin subsequently claimed the top spot on the factory Aprilia with his record-breaking 1m42.371s, edging Marc Marquez by a tenth of a second.

The reigning world champion made an error on his subsequent attempt, running wide at Turn 3, though he pushed hard as the clock wound down. While faster than Martin through the opening sectors, his final lap time eventually slipped, leaving him second on the grid for Motegi’s two races.

Acosta delivered a strong performance on the factory KTM, finishing the session in third, just 0.122 seconds behind Martin.

Marco Bezzecchi took fourth on the other factory Aprilia, with Alex Marquez dropping to fifth in the final classification aboard his Gresini Ducati.

Fabio di Giannantonio was next in sixth for VR46, narrowly ahead of the lead Tech3 KTM ridden by Enea Bastianini.

Meanwhile, the Trackhouse pair of Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura advanced from Q1 to qualify eighth and 11th respectively. Ogura, competing on home soil, was restricted to a single bike after recording his second crash of the weekend during FP2.

The Trackhouse duo were separated in the order by the LCR entries of Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco, with the latter maintaining 10th place despite crashing at Turn 9.

Fabio Quartararo completed the top 12 for Yamaha.

Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia was denied a Q2 spot at the last moment by Fernandez, ending up 13th on the grid at a track where he set the lap record last year.

The other two Ducati riders in Q1 also failed to progress to the second leg, with Franco Morbidelli finishing 14th for VR46 and Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer managing only 18th.

Somkiat Chantra starred on his MotoGP return as a substitute for Joan Mir, beating Honda team-mate Luca Marini to 15th place.

KTM’s Brad Binder qualified 17th after a late crash at Turn 12, while his Tech3 team-mate Maverick Vinales was 19th on his comeback from injury.

The remainder of the field was filled by the Yamaha entries of Jack Miller, Alex Rins, and Toprak Razgatlioglu.

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