Márquez wins at Motegi, cuts Martín’s lead to two points

Marc Márquez won the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi on Sunday, October 4, passing championship leader Jorge Martín on lap 11 and finishing 1.363 seconds ahead. Martín was second and Marco Bezzecchi third, leaving Martín with a reported two-point advantage over Márquez in the MotoGP standings. Martín started from pole and led through the opening stages as the two riders pulled away from the chasing group. Márquez began applying more pressure from lap seven before passing on the inside at Turn 9 on lap 11. Martín stayed close initially, but Márquez gradually extended his lead and controlled the closing laps. The victory completed a Motegi weekend double for Márquez, who had also won Saturday’s sprint race. It was his sixth Grand Prix win of the season, according to race reports. The official championship totals could not be reconciled across the available accounts: one published standings list put Martín on 333 points and Márquez on 331, while other reports stated the two-point gap without consistently giving both totals. The reported margin, rather than a single verified set of totals, is clear.