Australian rider Jack Miller (Ducati) took his first win of the season this Sunday by winning the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix, a race in which Miguel Oliveira (KTM) finished fifth.
The Portuguese rider, who had started from eighth on the starting grid, completed the 24 laps of the Japanese Motegi circuit by 8.185 seconds behind the winner, leaving South African Brad Binder (KTM) in second place, trailing of 3.409 seconds, with Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) closing the podium at 4.136.
Miguel Oliveira got off to a good start, taking four positions, followed by Miller, who jumped from seventh to third. The Australian would take the lead shortly after, making a race that stood out from the rest of the opposition.
The Portuguese KTM rider managed to finish four laps on the podium after overtaking Binder on lap four. However, the South African reversed the maneuver with 16 laps to go.
From then on, the 27-year-old Portuguese pilot had a heated duel with Spaniard Marc Márquez (Honda), who would eventually overtake Oliveira three laps of the checkered flag.
Miguel Oliveira saw Italian Luca Marini (Ducati) still attack his fifth place on the final lap of the race, but the Portuguese rider managed to reverse the overtaking move and secure the second-best result of the season, equalizing to fifth in the Portuguese GP and just behind the win at the Indonesian GP.
World Cup leader Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha) Frenchman had a difficult test and only reached the eighth final after starting from ninth position.
Still, the reigning world champion gained ground against the competition as he saw championship runner-up Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) crash on the final lap when he was ninth.
Spaniard Aleix Espargaró had mechanical problems with his Aprilia during the warm-up lap and went to the pits to change bikes, starting from the pit lane. Espargaró only managed to recover to 16th position, failing to reach one of the scoring spots.
With these results, Quartararo increased the lead to Bagnaia from 10 to 18, with Espargaró in third place at 25.
Miguel Oliveira maintains 11th place in the championship, with 106 points, just two points away from 10th place for Spaniard Alex Rins (Suzuki), who withdrew.
This was Miller’s 10th career win, his fourth in MotoGP. The Australian has not won since the 2021 French GP.
The next race is the GP of Thailand, on Sunday the 17th round of the championship.
Source: DN
