Motegi, Japan

Motegi MotoGP Saturday Subscriber Notes: Marquez' Missing Message, Throwing A Race Away, And Managing Fuel And Risk

By David Emmett |

The forecast was for rain at Motegi on Saturday, and rain certainly fell. Fortunately, most of it fell overnight, leaving MotoGP qualifying and the sprint race dry. Well, almost. The constant threat of rain hung in the air, spots of rain hitting visors in enough numbers to plant the seeds of doubt into the minds of the riders. And sometimes, hard enough to actually suck some of the grip away from the track.

If you are going to end up in those fickle conditions, where the track might be a little damp or it might not, then Motegi is the place to be. It has superb grip in the wet, riders managing 1'55s in absolutely torrential rain here in the 2023 race that was eventually red-flagged. But that doesn't make it any easier for riders to wrap their heads around, when drops start to spatter on their visors.

Those spots of rain ended up having a profound effect on qualifying. And they even had an impact on the race, perhaps denying Pedro Acosta his first sprint victory, though Acosta took all of the blame on his own shoulders.

2023 Motegi MotoGP Free Practice 2 Result: Bagnaia Fastest As Rain Holds Off

By Zara Daniela |

After overnight rain, track conditions improved significantly by the time the premier class went out for their final practice session, a dry line allowing slick tyres to come out of their blankets straight away. Quite predictably, Pecco Bagnaia was quickest, this time on the drying track, taking the lead in the closing stages of FP2. Pedro Acosta continued to be a thorn in his side, a hundredth of a second behind the world champion, with Maverick Viñales climbing into the top three of the morning session. 

2024 Motegi Moto2 Practice 2 Result: Canet Quickest On Drying Track

By Zara Daniela |

A damp track awaited the intermediate class on their final practice outing and although conditions improved enough for slick tyres to become the norm, lap times did not drop sufficiently to change the overall hierarchy from Friday. Aron Canet’s late charge brought him within a second of Filip Salac’s benchmark and robbed Albert Arenas of the lead of P2. The Gresini racer settled for second, with Sergio Garcia returning to brighter pastures in third position, although his speed in dry conditions was not good enough to take him directly into Q2. 

2024 Motegi Moto3 Practice 2 Result: A Rapid Rookie On A Wet Track

By Zara Daniela |

The lightweight class got off to a wet start after overnight rain left the track surface drenched for morning practice. Although rain had stopped, more of the same was on the menu for the remainder of Saturday so the track got busy quickly. Conditions didn’t improve a great amount throughout the 30 minutes and lap times were no threat to Ivan Ortola’s Friday benchmark, but Angel Piqueras thrived in the tricky conditions to lead the way in P2, followed by teammate Adrian Fernandez, three tenths of a second behind. 

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