2023-09-25 19:38:17
After an exciting and grueling Indian Grand Prix, the motorcycling paddock is currently traveling to Japan to celebrate consecutively and without rest what will be their 14th round of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix, a race that comes with two of the three categories very tight after what happened at the Buddh Circuit last weekend.
The Indian track was not at all favorable for the interests of the MotoGP leader, Pecco Bagnaia (1st 292p.), who left the Asian country with a poor income of nine points, which he achieved in the Sprint Race on Saturday. The Ducati rider made a huge mistake in the Sunday event and ended up on the gravel of the Buddh Circuit in full conflict with Jorge Martín (2nd 279p.), who proudly defended second place against Fabio Quartararo to reach Motegi second overall with only 13 points less than Pecco.
Precisely Motegi is not a track that brings back good memories for the Italian; last yearBagnaia was the victim of a fall on the last lap of the race under the constant pressure of his now teammate, Enea Bastianini, at that time on a satellite Ducati. Martín, for his part, climbed to the third step of the podium in the 2022 Japanese GP, behind the winner of the test, Jack Miller (with the factory Ducati) and the South African KTM rider, Brad Binder.
Returning to the overall championship, Martín is not the only driver who should worry Pecco Bagnaia; Marco Bezzecchi (3rd 248p.) He has already cut 27 points from him in the last two weekends, and after his victory in India, the member of the Mooney VR46 Team is now 44 points behind the current MotoGP champion and in enviable shape.
Far from the east trio of Ducatis, Brad Binder continues to confirm himself as the best KTM of the season. The South African is fourth overall with 192 points, exactly 100 behind Bagnaia, and he surely wants to get back on the podium after three grand prix without luck for him.
In Moto2, Pedro Acosta earned merits in India to be the new world champion of the intermediate class; The KTM rider added his sixth victory of the season in Buddh, already accumulating 236 points at the head of the general classification, 39 more than Tony Arbolino (2nd 197p.), who after five bad races, returned to the podium on the Asian track. The one who has it very difficult at this point is Jake Dixon; The Briton remains third overall, but the gap with Pedro is now 90 points after the fall he suffered in Buddh, where he was hit by Alonso López in an action that will force the man from Los Molinos to serve a double Long Lap Penalty in Motegi as a sanction
Moto3 is, by far, the tightest category in the world championship; Daniel Holgado (1st) and Jaume Masiá (2nd) land in Japan tied on points (174) and at the top of the world championship overall, and be careful because Ayumu Sasaki (3rd 173p.), third placed, only has one point less than them. As if that were not enough, David Alonso (4th 151p.), Deniz Oncü (5th 146p.) and Iván Ortolá (6th 140p.) are also just over one race away from the lead, and with 175 points still up for grabs until Valencia, they can many things happen in Moto3.
The weather could be decisive for this Japanese Grand Prix, and the forecast anticipates a very cloudy weekend with a 40% chance of rain from Friday to Sunday. All the action can be seen live through DAZN and the Motogp.com Videopass, and the race times will be as follows: on Saturday at 08:00 in the morning the MotoGP Sprint Race, and on Sunday at 05:00 Moto3, 06:15 Moto2 and 08:00 for the main MotoGP event.
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Japan GP schedules MotoGP 2023
Friday, September 29
02:00 – 02:35 Moto3 FP1
02:50 – 03:30 Moto2 FP1
03:45 – 04:30 MotoGP FP1
06:15 – 06:50 Moto3 FP2
07:05 – 07:45 Moto2 FP2
08:00 – 09:00 MotoGP FP2
Saturday September 30
01:40 – 02:10 Moto3 FP3
02:25 – 02:55 Moto2 FP3
03:10 – 03:40 MotoGP FP
03:50 – 04:05 MotoGP Q1
04:15 – 04:30 MotoGP Q2
05:50 – 06:05 Moto3 Q1
06:15 – 06:30 Moto3 Q2
06:45 – 07:00 Moto2 Q1
07:10 – 07:25 Moto2 Q2
08:00 MotoGP Sprint Race (12 laps)
Sunday October 1
03:40 – 03:50 MotoGP Warm Up
05:00 Moto3 Race (17 laps)
06:15 Moto2 Race (19 laps)
08:00 MotoGP Race (24 laps)
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