The Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) finished the sprint race of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix this Saturday in 14th position, won by the Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati), who once again closed in on the championship leader.
The Portuguese rider, who started from 16th position on the grid, crossed the finish line 18.092 seconds behind the winner, Jorge Martín, who left the South African Brad Binder (KTM) in second position, 1.390 seconds behind, with the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati ). ) in third place, with 5,279.
Miguel Oliveira could not advance to the second qualifying phase for this 14th round of the season.
Those who continued from Q1 to Q2 were the Spaniards Marc Márquez (Honda) and Raúl Fernández (Aprilia), the Portuguese’s teammate in RNF.
In Q2, Jorge Martín broke the record again at the Japanese Motegi circuit, after Brad Binder did it the previous day, setting the best lap time with 1:43.198 minutes.
In the race, Oliveira did not start well, he was left behind in the middle of the grid, while Jorge Martín came out like a bullet, with the aim of recovering points from Francesco Bagnaia, leader of the championship at the beginning of this race, with 13 more. points.
The Italian, current world champion, started from second position, but was devoured by the two KTMs, owned by Binder and the Australian Jack Miller.
While Martin left the competition at the front of the race, Bagnaia was busy trying to regain a place on the podium.
At the end of the first lap, Miguel Oliveira was 16th again, gaining two more positions until the end of the race.
Bagnaia managed to get rid of Jack Miller and reach the last step of the podium, but the victory in the sprint race, his fifth this season, allowed Jorge Martín to recover five more points in the fight for the championship.
“The truth is that I expected more. I had problems with the rear traction. But we have to be happy with what we have. Jorge is in his best moment of the season, but we have to stay calm,” stressed ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia.
The Italian continues to lead the championship, with 299 points, but now he has the Madrid driver only eight behind.
“We have found our rhythm. Now we are going to look for another victory tomorrow,” he promised.
Miguel Oliveira maintains the 13th place with which he started, with the same 69 points.
Among manufacturers, Ducati leads, with 456 points.
The main race takes place on Sunday.
Source: TSF
