An emotional and monumental weekend as MotoGP visits Motegi
02 October 2025MotoGP’s visits to Mobility Resort Motegi over the years have produced some spectacular moments, and with incredible fan support, aggressive overtakes, welcome surprises, and the MotoGP World Champion crowned, the 2025 Motul Grand Prix of Japan did not disappoint.
Marc Marquez claims 2025 MotoGP World Championship
2184 days after he was last crowned MotoGP World Champion back in 2019, Marc Marquez completed his comeback at Mobility Resort Motegi to see him take a highly emotional ninth title, his seventh in the MotoGP class. Finishing 2nd in both the Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix was enough to see him declared World Champion, with Alex Marquez, running 2nd in the Championship, unable to deny his brother the title any longer.
Bagnaia's back as he does the double
Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has not shied away from discussing the struggles he has been facing this season, with the two-time MotoGP World Champion struggling to find feeling with the GP25 bike. After several rounds of disappointing results, and both Bagnaia and Ducati speaking of patience wearing thin, the recent Misano test seems to have unlocked the solution to his ongoing problems, with Bagnaia taking pole position before winning both the Sprint and Grand Prix with impressive pace - despite puffs of smoke appearing from the back of Bagnaia’s bike during Sunday’s race, he crossed the line over four seconds ahead of Marquez in 2nd.
Mir secures first Grand Prix podium with Honda
Joan Mir completed a podium consisting entirely of MotoGP World Champions with his 3rd place finish in Sunday’s Grand Prix, his first podium since joining Honda in 2023. Equalling his best qualifying position of 2nd, Mir achieved his career-best Sprint result with a 4th place finish on Saturday. But it was Sunday’s Grand Prix that truly gave Mir and the Honda HRC Castrol team reason to celebrate, as Mir claimed a well-earned 3rd at Honda’s home race.
Disaster for Martin as Sprint crash causes broken collarbone
Jorge Martin’s 2025 MotoGP season has once again been plagued by injury, after a crash at the first corner of Saturday’s Sprint saw him walk away with a displaced fracture of his right collarbone. Martin was ruled out of Sunday’s Grand Prix, and travelled to Spain to undergo surgery. As a result, Martin will be absent from the Indonesian Grand Prix as he continues his recovery.
Moto2 Championship fight still all to play for, with Holgado, Dixon and Moreira on the podium at Motegi
After qualifying on pole position, it was a disastrous start to the Grand Prix for Moto2 Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez, who found himself running in 9th after the first lap. Gonzalez’s race went from bad to worse when the fight for 8th against Celestino Vietti resulted in Vietti crashing, and saw Gonzalez being handed a long lap penalty, eventually finishing the race in 5th.
A strong showing from Daniel Holgado saw him take his second Moto2 victory, and it was a good weekend also for British rider Jake Dixon, who finished 2nd. Diogo Moreira’s 3rd place finish saw him pick up much-needed points, as he currently sits 2nd in the Championship, just 34 points behind Gonzalez. A difficult race for Aron Canet, who is running 3rd in the Championship, saw him finishing 15th, picking up one point.
With just 66 points separating the top five riders in the Moto2 World Championship, it’s still all to play for with five rounds to go.
David Muñoz balances risk and reward to take Moto3 victory
The Moto3 race at Mobility Resort Motegi began once again with fearless overtaking and aggressive racing, but steadily progressing rainfall throughout the first half of the race saw riders attempting to figure out how hard they could push, with mixed results. The tricky conditions saw several crashes, including heartbreak for Taiyo Furusato as he crashed out of 2nd during Lap 9, dashing hopes of a home victory.
David Muñoz however, delivered a masterclass in managing unpredictable conditions, as he took the lead of the race on Lap 6 and never looked back, correctly evaluating the conditions to create a gap that his fellow riders couldn’t shrink once the rain stopped and the sun came out.
A late charge from Championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda in 4th saw him close the gap to Maximo Quiles and Valentin Perrone, eventually passing both to take 2nd place, with Quiles picking up 3rd.
As Angel Piqueras, Rueda’s closest Championship rival, finished 11th, the gap between the two riders now sits at 93 points, giving Rueda his first chance to clinch the Moto3 World Championship next time out in Indonesia.
MotoGP riders confirmed for World Superbike Championship move
With recent contract signings, only one seat on the 2026 MotoGP grid is left to be confirmed - Johann Zarco’s teammate at LCR Honda. It had been speculated that the rider currently in that seat, rookie Somkiat Chantra, would not be staying with the team for 2026, following a difficult season that has so far seen him secure three championship points across the seventeen rounds. Such speculations were revealed to be true on Tuesday, when it was announced that Chantra would be moving to the Superbike World Championship next year, joining the Honda HRC team, alongside current Moto2 rider Jake Dixon.
Following the announcement that Toprak Razgatlıoğlu would be joining the MotoGP grid in 2026 as part of the Prima Pramac Yamaha line-up, and the confirmation that Jack Miller would be staying with the team, rumours have been flying surrounding Miguel Oliveira’s future. But it has now been confirmed that Oliveira will be joining the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, with Oliveira and Razgatlıoğlu effectively swapping teams and Championships for 2026.
This weekend, MotoGP travels to the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit for the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia. A track that Marc Marquez has previously struggled with, the newly-crowned Champion will be looking to change this as he seeks his 12th Grand Prix victory of 2025.
