The 2022 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix (officially known as the Motul Grand Prix of Japan) was the sixteenth round of the 2022 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It was held at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Motegi on 25 September 2022.
The Grand Prix returned to Japan after absences in and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background
Time schedule change Unlike the other race weekends, on Friday there was only one free practice session for each class, with the consequence that the second was scheduled on Saturday morning. The combined classification for access in Q1 and Q2 was determined by the times of only FP1 and FP2 (which will last seventy-five minutes each), as already happened in this championship in the Indonesian Grand Prix. Consequently, the free practice session before MotoGP qualifying became FP3.
Riders' entries In the MotoGP class, Takuya Tsuda, initially announced as a wild card with the Suzuki Ecstar Team, replaced the owner Joan Mir still suffering from an ankle injury; Tetsuta Nagashima ran wild for Team HRC. In the Moto2 class, in addition to the replacement of Gabriel Rodrigo in the Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team with the Japanese Taiga Hada, there was the return of Sam Lowes to the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team. In the Moto3 class, in addition to Nicola Carraro replacing Matteo Bertelle in the QJmotor Avintia Racing Team, there was also the replacement of the injured Alberto Surra in the Rivacold Snipers Team with the Japanese Kanta Hamada.
MotoGP Championship standings before the race The crash in the previous Grand Prix by Fabio Quartararo, sees the leader of the riders' stand at 211 points and the rapprochement of Francesco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaró (finished second and third), now 10 and 17 points away respectively. Enea Bastianini, winner of Aragon, is now 48 points behind the top of the standings. Jack Miller is fifth at -77 points from the top. In the constructors' classification, Ducati is arithmetically champion with 346 points; Aprilia overtakes Yamaha in second position (217 the first, 213 the second). Followed by KTM (161 points), Suzuki (134 points) and Honda (100 points). In the team standings, Ducati Lenovo Team is first with 335 points, with a lead of 37 points over Aprilia Racing, 98 over Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP and Prima Pramac Racing and 112 over Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
Moto2 Championship standings before the race Augusto Fernández increases his lead in the riders' standing after the Aragon Grand Prix: he is now on 214 points, 7 more than Ai Ogura. Arón Canet is third with 177 points, followed by Celestino Vietti with 162 points and Tony Arbolino with 128 points. The constructors' classification states: Kalex (already arithmetically champion) 370 points, Boscoscuro 121 points, MV Agusta 5 points. In the team standings, Red Bull KTM Ajo is first with 337 points, followed 21 points behind by Idemitsu Honda Team Asia. Flexbox HP40 is third with 260 points, ahead of Elf Marc VDS Racing Team and Shimoko GasGas Aspar Team, who have 179 and 173 points respectively.
Moto3 Championship standings before the race Izan Guevara's victory in Aragon, combined with the difficulties of Sergio García and Dennis Foggia (finished thirteenth and fourteenth) allows him to increase his advantage in the drivers' classification: the first is at 229 points, with the second and third following him respectively. with 196 and 171 points. Ayumu Sasaki is fourth with 158 points, 3 more than Jaume Masià. In the constructors' classification, Gas Gas (287 points) brings the distances ahead of Honda and KTM to 32 and 41 points. Husqvarna and CFMoto are fourth and fifth with 194 and 110 points respectively. In the team standings, AutoSolar GasGas Aspar Team leads with 425 points, with a large advantage over their rivals: Leopard Racing (299 points), Red Bull KTM Ajo (238 points), Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max (211 points), Red Bull KTM Tech3 (193 points).
Free practice
MotoGP In the first session, carried out in the dry, the fastest was Jack Miller, ahead of his teammate Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo. In the second session, held in the wet, Marc Márquez set the best time, ahead of his compatriot Jorge Martín and Miller.
Combinated Free Practice 1 and 2 The top ten riders (written in bold) qualified in Q2. Fastest session lap BikerConstructorFP1FP2143 Jack MillerDucati 1:44.5091:55.387263 Francesco BagnaiaDucati1:44.5371:56.752320 Fabio QuartararoYamaha1:44.5581:56.561441 Aleix EspargaróAprilia1:44.5771:56.577510 Luca MariniDucati1:44.6451:56.548693 Marc MárquezHonda1:44.656 1:55.232744 Pol EspargaróHonda1:44.6781:57.003833 Brad BinderKTM1:44.7351:57.827988 Miguel OliveiraKTM1:44.7431:55.4281012 Maverick ViñalesAprilia1:44.7971:56.925115 Johann ZarcoDucati1:44.7981:55.6301230 Takaaki NakagamiHonda1:44.8861:56.8741342 Álex RinsSuzuki1:44.9131:57.6711423 Enea BastianiniDucati1:44.9781:56.1971589 Jorge MartínDucati1:45.0091:55.3761621 Franco MorbidelliYamaha1:45.0651:56.1681735 Cal CrutchlowYamaha1:45.1871:56.7431840 Darryn BinderYamaha1:45.3661:57.6061972 Marco BezzecchiDucati1:45.4261:56.6552073 Álex MárquezHonda1:45.6001:56.3492125 Raúl FernándezKTM1:45.7391:57.2922245 Tetsuta NagashimaHonda1:45.8451:57.6562387 Remy GardnerKTM1:45.9911:56.8512449 Fabio Di GiannantonioDucati1:46.3651:56.5882585 Takuya TsudaSuzuki1:46.7281:58.631 OFFICIAL MOTOGP COMBINED FREE PRACTICE TIMES REPORT
Qualifying
MotoGP
Fastest session lap BikerConstructorRowQ1Q2193 Marc MárquezHonda Qualified in Q2 1:55.2141 125 Johann ZarcoDucati1:55.3001:55.4222333 Brad BinderKTM Qualified in Q21:55.5373412 Maverick ViñalesAprilia Qualified in Q21:55.6204 2589 Jorge MartínDucati1:55.7951:55.6865641 Aleix EspargaróAprilia Qualified in Q21:55.7716743 Jack MillerDucati Qualified in Q21:55.7847 3888 Miguel OliveiraKTM Qualified in Q21:55.8958920 Fabio QuartararoYamaha Qualified in Q21:56.32691010 Luca MariniDucati Qualified in Q21:56.35410 41144 Pol EspargaróHonda Qualified in Q21:57.354111263 Francesco BagnaiaDucati Qualified in Q21:57.373121372 Marco BezzecchiDucati1:55.934N/A1351421 Franco MorbidelliYamaha1:56.006N/A141523 Enea BastianiniDucati1:56.130N/A151649 Fabio Di GiannantonioDucati1:56.432N/A1661773 Álex MárquezHonda1:56.578N/A171842 Álex RinsSuzuki1:56.656N/A181945 Tetsuta NagashimaHonda1:57.229N/A1972087 Remy GardnerKTM1:57.288N/A202185 Takuya TsudaSuzuki1:57.787N/A212225 Raúl FernándezKTM1:57.827N/A2282335 Cal CrutchlowYamaha1:58.115N/A232440 Darryn BinderYamaha1:58.292N/A242530 Takaaki NakagamiHonda1:58.717N/A25 9 OFFICIAL MOTOGP QUALIFYING RESULTS
Moto2 Fastest session lap BikerConstructorRowQ1Q2140 Arón CanetKalex 2:05.543 2:04.9391 1296 Jake DixonKalex Qualified in Q22:05.6692314 Tony ArbolinoKalex Qualified in Q22:05.8913435 Somkiat ChantraKalex Qualified in Q22:06.1114 2512 Filip SalačKalex Qualified in Q22:06.1235654 Fermín AldeguerBoscoscuro Qualified in Q22:06.311679 Jorge NavarroKalex Qualified in Q22:06.4687 386 Cameron BeaubierKalex2:06.5132:06.6808981 Keminth KuboKalex2:06.5012:06.7859107 Barry BaltusKalex2:05.7342:07.11910 41137 Augusto FernándezKalex Qualified in Q22:07.348111221 Alonso LópezBoscoscuro Qualified in Q22:07.443121379 Ai OguraKalex Qualified in Q22:07.6971351416 Joe RobertsKalex Qualified in Q22:07.764141564 Bo BendsneyderKalex Qualified in Q22:07.831151684 Zonta van den GoorberghKalex Qualified in Q22:08.2841661775 Albert ArenasKalex Qualified in Q22:08.634171851 Pedro AcostaKalex Qualified in Q22:09.394181919 Lorenzo Dalla PortaKalex2:06.790N/A1972029 Taiga HadaKalex2:07.002N/A202123 Marcel SchrötterKalex2:07.087N/A212213 Celestino ViettiKalex2:07.114N/A2282361 Alessandro ZacconeKalex2:07.296N/A232422 Sam LowesKalex2:07.423N/A24254 Sean Dylan KellyKalex2:08.067N/A2592628 Niccolò AntonelliKalex2:08.684N/A262742 Marcos RamírezMV Agusta2:09.131N/A272824 Simone CorsiMV Agusta2:09.950N/A28102952 Jeremy AlcobaKalex2:10.530N/A293018 Manuel GonzálezKalexN/AN/A30 OFFICIAL MOTO2 QUALIFYING RESULTS
Moto3 Fastest session lap BikerConstructorRowQ1Q2124 Tatsuki SuzukiHonda Qualified in Q2 2:11.2461 1219 Scott OgdenHonda 2:11.7792:11.5682311 Sergio GarcíaGas Gas2.12.1222:11.7883471 Ayumu SasakiHusqvarna Qualified in Q22:11.9424 257 Dennis FoggiaHonda Qualified in Q22:12.0155616 Andrea MignoHonda Qualified in Q22:12.0386754 Riccardo RossiHonda Qualified in Q22:12.1207 3853 Deniz ÖncüKTM Qualified in Q22:12.1248928 Izan GuevaraGas Gas Qualified in Q22:12.1559105 Jaume MasiàKTM Qualified in Q22:12.22910 41199 Carlos TatayCFMoto2:12.1222:12.505111217 John McPheeHusqvarna Qualified in Q22:12.993121320 Lorenzo FellonHonda2:12.3942:13.1091351431 Adrián FernándezKTM Qualified in Q22:13.686141510 Diogo MoreiraKTM Qualified in Q22:14.078151644 David MuñozKTM Qualified in Q22:14.856166176 Ryusei YamanakaKTM Qualified in Q22:15.706171827 Kaito TobaKTM Qualified in Q22:15.837181972 Taiyo FurusatoHonda2:12.749N/A1972048 Iván OrtoláKTM2:13.081N/A202196 Daniel HolgadoKTM2:13.237N/A212266 Joel KelsoKTM2:13.393N/A2282343 Xavier ArtigasCFMoto2:13.447N/A232470 Joshua WhatleyHonda2:13.756N/A242582 Stefano NepaKTM2:13.775N/A2592623 Elia BartoliniKTM2:13.985N/A262734 Kanta HamadaHonda2:14.027N/A272864 Mario AjiHonda2:14.763N/A2810299 Nicola CarraroKTM2:15.402N/A293022 Ana CarrascoKTM2:20.016N/A30 OFFICIAL MOTO3 QUALIFYING RESULTS
Race
MotoGP BikerTeamConstructorTime/RetiredPoints143 Jack MillerDucati Lenovo TeamDucati24 42:29.174725 233 Brad BinderRed Bull KTM Factory RacingKTM24 +3.409320 389 Jorge MartínPrima Pramac RacingDucati24 +4.136516493 Marc MárquezRepsol Honda TeamHonda24 +7.784113 588 Miguel OliveiraRed Bull KTM Factory RacingKTM24 +8.185811610 Luca MariniMooney VR46 Racing TeamDucati24 +8.34810 10712 Maverick ViñalesAprilia RacingAprilia24 +9.87949 820 Fabio QuartararoMonster Energy Yamaha MotoGPYamaha24 +10.19398923 Enea BastianiniGresini Racing MotoGPDucati24 +10.318157 1072 Marco BezzecchiMooney VR46 Racing TeamDucati24 +16.419136115 Johann ZarcoPrima Pramac RacingDucati24 +16.58625 1244 Pol EspargaróRepsol Honda TeamHonda24 +17.4561141373 Álex MárquezLCR Honda CastrolHonda24 +18.2191731421 Franco MorbidelliMonster Energy Yamaha MotoGPYamaha24 +19.0121421535 Cal CrutchlowWithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP TeamYamaha24 +19.2012311641 Aleix EspargaróAprilia RacingAprilia24 +25.473PL 1749 Fabio Di GiannantonioGresini Racing MotoGPDucati24 +27.00616 1825 Raúl FernándezTech3 KTM Factory RacingKTM24 +29.37422 1987 Remy GardnerTech3 KTM Factory RacingKTM24 +29.46920 2030 Takaaki NakagamiLCR Honda IdemitsuHonda24 +43.29425 Ret63 Francesco BagnaiaDucati Lenovo TeamDucati23 Accident12 Ret42 Álex RinsTeam Suzuki EcstarSuzuki14 Wheel Rim18Ret40 Darryn BinderWithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP TeamYamaha14 Accident24 Ret85 Takuya TsudaTeam Suzuki EcstarSuzuki11 Engine Fire21 Ret45 Tetsuta NagashimaHRC TeamHonda9 Accident19 Fastest lap: Jack Miller (Ducati) – 1:45.198 (lap 9) OFFICIAL MOTOGP RACE REPORT
Notes: – Aleix Espargaró was due to start from sixth place, but was forced to start from the pit lane after suffering mechanical problems and therefore using his spare bike, which left his grid slot vacant.
Moto2