MotoGP, Qualifying: Jorge Martin (Aprilia) beats champion Marc Marquez

In the MotoGP class, the ten fastest riders from Friday’s free practice sessions go straight through to the second qualifying session on Saturday. The rest must compete in Q1. From there, the two fastest riders advance to Q2.

At Motegi on Friday, Alex Márquez, Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Martín, Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco secured direct entry into Q2.

Q1: Trackhouse riders Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez secured their places in Q2

Ahead of Q1, the second free practice session took place on Saturday morning at Motegi. Bezzecchi set the fastest time in FP2 with a lap of 1:43.321. Second place went to his Aprilia team-mate and World Championship leader Jorge Martin. Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio rounded off the top five. Ai Ogura crashed but was uninjured.

In Q1, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Luca Marini, Maverick Viñales, Somkiat Chantra, Franco Morbidelli, Raúl Fernández, Brad Binder, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Fermín Aldeguer, Pecco Bagnaia and Ai Ogura battled it out for a place in the next round.

Brad Binder (KTM) crashed at Turn 13. Whilst the South African escaped uninjured, his RC16 was badly damaged. Local hero Ogura set the fastest time in Q1 with a lap of 1:42.883. Raul Fernandez was just one thousandth of a second slower. As a result, both Trackhouse riders secured their places in Q2. It was a bitter blow for Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati): finishing third in the Q1 session, he missed out on qualifying for Q2 by 0.123 seconds. Somkiat Chantra, who is standing in for Joan Mir in Honda’s works team in Japan, caused a surprise: he finished fifth in Q1 and was faster than Honda’s regular rider Luca Marini. It was Chantra’s best qualifying session ever – he had never achieved this in 2025.

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Motegi: Qualifying Moto2

MotoGP World Championship

03.10.2026 - 06:30

Fast Q2 session

At the start of the 15-minute Q2 session, the sky above the Twin Ring Motegi was slightly overcast, with an air temperature of a pleasant 22 degrees Celsius. The MotoGP stars set a fast pace right from the start. Alex Marquez set the first fastest time of 1:42.878. But then his brother Marc set a lap record of 1:42.481 – beating the previous record, set by AM73 on Friday, by over three tenths!

On his second lap, Alex Márquez set the second-fastest time of 1:42.546 minutes. Marco Bezzecchi (1:42.750 mins) was third at this stage, with Pedro Acosta (1:42.891 mins) fourth. Jorge Martin (1:42.914 mins) rounded off the top five.

Then came the final push for times. It was only now that Ai Ogura joined the session. After his first timed lap, he was ninth. On the next lap, he moved up to seventh. Team-mate Raul Fernandez set the third-fastest time.

Shortly afterwards, Aprilia ace Jorge Martin set a lap record of 1:42.371 mins! Marc Marquez braked too late at Turn 3 and had to ride through the gravel trap. Johann Zarco crashed at Turn 9. Marco Bezzecchi managed to move up to fourth place.

Then came the final push from champion Marc Márquez. He pushed hard, but it wasn’t enough. He secured second place on the grid behind Martín. Bezzecchi was also unable to improve any further.