Marquez wins Japanese MotoGP as Binder finishes 11th

Marc Marquez won the Japanese MotoGP at Motegi on Sunday, cutting Jorge Martin’s championship lead to two points as South Africa’s Brad Binder finished 11th.

Marquez completed the 24-lap race in 41 minutes 31.467 seconds, with Martin 1.363 seconds behind. Marco Bezzecchi finished third for Aprilia, holding off a late challenge from Enea Bastianini on the Tech3 KTM.

Binder collected five points for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. He finished 25.853 seconds behind the winner and just 0.176 seconds outside the top 10, which was completed by Honda’s Luca Marini.

The result leaves Martin on 333 championship points and Marquez on 331 before the series heads to Indonesia. Bezzecchi remains third in the standings, 49 points behind Martin.

Martin had started from pole and kept Marquez behind him through the opening stages. The decisive pass came at Turn 9 on lap 11, when Marquez moved up the inside to take the lead.

Martin stayed close enough to apply pressure, but the Ducati rider increased his advantage during the closing laps and held on for victory.

It completed a winning weekend for Marquez, who also took Saturday’s sprint. Sunday’s success was his sixth Grand Prix victory of the season.

Behind the podium battle, Raul Fernandez finished fifth, ahead of home rider Ai Ogura and Binder’s KTM team-mate Pedro Acosta in seventh. Francesco Bagnaia and Fermin Aldeguer were eighth and ninth.

All riders used the hard rear tyre for the race, according to MotoGP’s official report, after limited running on that option during the weekend.

Photo: Pavel21kriz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Archive image from Brno, 18 July 2025; resized and cropped for display.