Qualifying report
MotoGP Japanese GP
MotoGP Japanese GP: Martin smashes lap record for pole
Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin secured pole position for this weekend's MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix as he smashed the lap record that had been established in Friday practice.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Sep 30, 2023, 9:58 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Martin posted a 1m43.198s on his first run in Q2 on Saturday morning to beat Brad Binder's Friday benchmark, which in turn surpassed Jorge Lorenzo's 2015 record, by almost three tenths of a second.
It gives Martin a second pole in the last three races, as well as a 10th in a row for Ducati.
Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia emerged as Martin's closest challenger, improving on his final run to record a 1m43.369s, falling 0.171s short of his main title rival.
KTM rider Jack Miller ensured there would be no Ducati lockout of the front row by going third-quickest, 0.353s off the pace, having lagged behind team-mate Binder on Friday.
Binder himself qualified fifth, just over half a second off the pace, with the two KTMs being split by the VR46 Ducati of Marco Bezzecchi.
Bezzecchi suffered a spectacular off at the Turn 12 left-hander in the early stages of Q2, but was able to get back to the pits and mount his number two bike to bag himself a spot on the second row.
Fabio di Giannantonio was an impressive sixth on the Gresini Ducati, one place ahead of the rider heavily linked with his ride for 2024, Marc Marquez.
Honda man Marquez had to fight his way out of Q1 following his crash at the end of Friday practice, setting the fastest time of 1m43.997s in that session, and improved to a 1m43.812s in the second part of qualifying.
Joining Marquez on the third row are works Aprilia duo Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.
Rounding out the Q2 order were Johann Zarco on the second Pramac Ducati, Raul Fernandez on the RNF Aprilia and Pol Espargaro's Tech3 GasGas.
Fernandez denied Yamaha star Fabio Quartararo a place in Q2 as he set the second-fastest time in Q1, joining Marquez in progressing to the pole shootout.
Quartararo was demoted another place by a late improvement for Augusto Fernandez on the second GasGas, leaving the French rider down in 14th.
He is joined on the fifth row by the second works Honda of Joan Mir, who crashed at Turn 11 in his bid to escape Q1.
Yamaha wildcard Cal Crutchlow could manage no more than 19th, one place ahead of Stefan Bradl, who was recruited to replace the injured Alex Rins at LCR Honda following the conclusion of Friday practice.
MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix - Q2 results:
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
Driver Info
Main Information Additional Data
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap 1 J. Martin Pramac Racing 89
Ducati 8 1'43.198 167.479 2 F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1
Ducati 8 +0.171 0.171 167.202 3 J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43
KTM 8 +0.353 0.182 166.909 4 M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72
Ducati 6 +0.426 0.073 166.791 5 B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33
KTM 8 +0.511 0.085 166.654 6 F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49
Ducati 8 +0.610 0.099 166.495 7 M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93
Honda 7 +0.614 0.004 166.489 8 M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12
Aprilia 7 +0.617 0.003 166.484 9 A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41
Aprilia 8 +0.624 0.007 166.473 10 J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5
Ducati 8 +0.653 0.029 166.426 11 R. Fernández RNF Racing 25
Aprilia 8 +0.856 0.203 166.102 12 P. Espargaro Tech 3 44
KTM 8 +0.898 0.042 166.035 View full results
MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix - Q1 results:
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
Driver Info
Main Information Additional Data
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap 1 M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93
Honda 7 1'43.997 166.193 312 2 R. Fernández RNF Racing 25
Aprilia 7 +0.052 0.052 166.110 309 3 A. Fernandez Tech 3 37
KTM 7 +0.132 0.080 165.982 309 4 F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20
Yamaha 8 +0.141 0.009 165.968 309 5 J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36
Honda 7 +0.153 0.012 165.949 311 6 M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88
Aprilia 7 +0.430 0.277 165.508 313 7 F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21
Yamaha 7 +0.524 0.094 165.360 311 8 T. Nakagami Team LCR 30
Honda 8 +0.629 0.105 165.194 309 9 C. Crutchlow Yamaha Factory Racing 35
Yamaha 4 +1.276 0.647 164.178 311 10 S. Bradl Team LCR 6
Honda 8 +1.454 0.178 163.901 310 11 M. Pirro Ducati Team 51
Ducati 7 +1.710 0.256 163.504 311 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Honda selects replacement for axed MotoGP technical boss Kokubu
Next article MotoGP Japanese GP: Martin cuts Bagnaia's points lead with sprint win
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Latest news
Marc Marquez will have to perform his "juggling act" in coming MotoGP races, says Alex
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
27 min
Marc Marquez will have to perform his "juggling act" in coming MotoGP races, says Alex
F2 rebuffs suggestion its title race might be over because of the Iran war
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 1 h
F2 rebuffs suggestion its title race might be over because of the Iran war
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 10 h
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe