Full Race MotoGP Motegi Japan 2024
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00:00Four laps ahead. Can Jorge MartÃn recover from the disappointment yesterday?
00:03He starts 11th, although Bagnaia continue to close in.
00:08Neil Hodgson has made it back from the grid.
00:11I've got to ask you about conditions, first of all, Neil.
00:13Having seen Moto2, how much will that be playing on their minds?
00:16Any moisture out there on track, offline?
00:18No, it doesn't seem bad.
00:19I've got to say, actually, the aerial view is perfect there.
00:22Perfectly dry, the kerbs are dry.
00:24Genuinely now, the riders will have switched off thinking about rain.
00:28It's full attack dry mode.
00:30There is a possibility of us looking into the distance.
00:32There's low, grey clouds, aren't there?
00:34Possibility we could get some of that mizzle which has been so troublesome this weekend.
00:39Next question I've got for you, Neil.
00:40The start and haltshot devices.
00:42Bagnaia's had his struggles recently.
00:44MartÃn's looked otherworldly.
00:46Some riders failed to disengage it at Turn 1.
00:49What's the story today?
00:50Yeah, both Marquez and Mavic Vinales failed to disengage it into Turn 1.
00:53The problem is it's a relatively short drag into Turn 1.
00:56Depending on where you are in the pack, if you don't brake hard enough,
00:58you don't disengage it.
01:00The front folks have got to do a certain amount of travel, deep in the travel,
01:04to unlock that front ride height device that they use off the start.
01:07So what do you do?
01:09Well, a lot of it is down to the way it's set.
01:12You want it set aggressive, so you've got to brake hard.
01:15That means that'll help you in the start.
01:17But you don't want to be going around Turn 1 and 2 with it still engaged.
01:20It makes the bike very, very difficult to manoeuvre.
01:2480,000 in for this Grand Prix.
01:27It's been well attended, actually, all weekend, hasn't it?
01:29There's been fans queuing to get in all the way through.
01:32Takanaka Gami in his last ride as a full-time rider.
01:36Pedro Acosta starting for pole.
01:38Which way do you see it going here today, Neil?
01:41Really hard to call. Really close.
01:43This man's, like I said...
01:45I'm going to say he's the favourite.
01:46It's bizarre that I'm saying it, but Pedro Acosta is my man for the race.
01:50Peco Pagnaia starts alongside him.
01:52Jorge MartÃn won a year ago, but he starts 11th.
01:55Pagnaia already closed the gap by six points yesterday.
01:58It stands at 15.
01:59Pagnaia in the middle of that front row.
02:02MartÃn in the middle of the fourth row of the grid.
02:05And let's not forget Bastanini and Marquez,
02:07who rounded out the sprint podium yesterday.
02:09So I've looked across from Aleix Aspargro to the pit wall,
02:12but we're ready to go.
02:13It's the Grand Prix of Japan.
02:1524 laps of Motegi.
02:17We are ready to get racing here in tricky conditions.
02:20It's gloomy out there, but it's dry for the start
02:23as we get going in MotoGP.
02:24And a great launch from Peco Pagnaia.
02:26That's the best we've seen for him in a long, long time.
02:29Have a look for Jorge MartÃn down the inside.
02:31Pedro!
02:32Wow! Around the outside, but he can't hold it down.
02:34And Pagnaia is going to have the inside line.
02:36Oh, Maric Viñales sat up by first Frankie Morbidelli
02:40and then Jorge MartÃn, who's got away well again,
02:43but this time he is going to be further down the order.
02:45It's Pagnaia out of shape into Turn 3
02:48from Acosta in second place.
02:50Just like you said, though,
02:52Pedro Acosta around the outside,
02:54but he had to pay for it,
02:55but slotted into second.
02:56Marquez, great start.
02:58So Jorge MartÃn, cracking start up to sixth.
03:00And Brad Binder, of course,
03:02from the second row of the grid up into third place.
03:04Electrical problem for him yesterday.
03:05Hopefully that's sorted
03:06because he's also got pace this weekend.
03:08It's Pagnaia from Acosta.
03:10Binder in third.
03:11How good is that to see?
03:12With Bastinini in fourth,
03:13then Marc Marquez fifth,
03:14and Jorge MartÃn's made the start he needed.
03:17He's up into sixth place.
03:20Round the S-curve they go up to the top of the hill,
03:23then back down towards this really tricky,
03:25one of the favorite overtaking opportunities on the racetrack.
03:28Jorge for miles back!
03:29Very late, very late,
03:30but Bastinini in turn was going through on Brad Binder.
03:33Binder takes the green on the outside of the racetrack.
03:36MartÃn's going to attack Marquez down into the hairpin,
03:39and he's going to get through on it.
03:40He's also going to get through on an air Bastinini.
03:43What a corner for Jorge MartÃn!
03:45Takes two of them, and MartÃn up to four.
03:47Honestly, it's so tight.
03:49Through the tight turn 10 hairpin corner,
03:52three abreast.
03:52I don't know if they all got through.
03:53Jack Miller?
03:54What? Jack Miller?
03:56Sideways as he goes through on Marc Marquez.
03:59What a start to the race from Miller.
04:01Fourteenth on the grid,
04:02and suddenly Miller is up into sixth.
04:04And I'm going to say on Friday,
04:06his pace is really good.
04:07Jack Miller's race pace.
04:08He's a qualified man.
04:09I apologize.
04:10He's into fifth place.
04:11It's Pagnaia leading,
04:12Acosta second, Binder third.
04:14Where's Binder?
04:15There he is.
04:16Sorry, in third place.
04:17I've missed it because Miller's there,
04:18and then Bastinini was the one who'd been dropping back.
04:21He's in sixth now.
04:22Oh, Marquez.
04:23And a twitch from Bastinini.
04:24What did you say about Bastinini?
04:26Seventh early on in the race?
04:27Exactly that.
04:28This is what we've seen over the years,
04:30and this is why he's lost his job at Ducati.
04:32He's got the pace.
04:33He's probably got the fastest race pace,
04:36certainly the second half of the race,
04:37but you have to go forward in the races.
04:39Another first lap crash for Juan Mir.
04:41I don't believe it.
04:42I really don't.
04:43That's in the 12 and 13, that is.
04:45That's a fast one for him and Alex Marquez
04:47if they've gone down together.
04:50Sorry, Gab.
04:51It's the same as...
04:51And I'm not giving you a hard time.
04:52I'm just telling you the facts.
04:54Maverick Vinales is currently riding round.
04:57He's in ninth place.
04:58He's starting on the front row of the grid.
05:00I mean, it's not acceptable.
05:02You can't allow yourself to get beaten up so much.
05:04Not when you see Brad Binder coming forward like he has,
05:07when you see Jack Miller from 14th on the grid.
05:09Yes, do you know what?
05:10Jack may well fade in this race,
05:12but he gives himself the best of opportunities, doesn't he?
05:15Exactly, exactly.
05:16Some can't believe Pedro let the break up into turn one.
05:18That was brave.
05:19You can't believe it.
05:20Pedro Acosta, after what we've seen of him already
05:23in this rookie season.
05:24He is officially the rookie of the year now.
05:26A lot of them deep there in the hairpin.
05:29Oh, this is going to be a fast crash.
05:30Oh, it's going to be horrible.
05:31Oh, what a horrible crash.
05:33Oh, look at how Alex Marquez's bike is wrapped up there
05:37with Juan Mir and eventually drags him down.
05:40Yeah, it was two lines crossing into one,
05:42but it's Alex Marquez behind.
05:44He hasn't hit the back of Mir on purpose into there.
05:47It's so fast, fourth gear on a MotoGP bike,
05:49and there's not a lot of runoff, as you can see.
05:51Well, it's a great start from the Aussie ahead of Marc Marquez.
05:54We saw huge vibrations coming from his bike,
05:56and I expect they'll have more of the same today.
05:58They just cannot get rid of him,
06:00but he's given himself the best opportunity.
06:02Meanwhile, that is Brad Binder in front of Jorge MartÃn
06:06from the helicopter shot.
06:08That gets tight as Binder cuts back.
06:09He definitely loves a V, Brad Binder, on that KTM.
06:14Yeah, he loves a V because he brakes so late.
06:16He fires it into the corner, then he uses the rear brake.
06:18Watch it slide around.
06:19He's got wide here.
06:20There's room to go through, but it's going to be...
06:22Oh, Jorge MartÃn was going to have a go there,
06:25but there's no way Brad Binder was going to allow anyone
06:28to sneak up the inside of him.
06:29It's the perfect start to the race, though, isn't it,
06:31for Jorge MartÃn at this stage?
06:33From 11th on the grid, you know,
06:34he said fourth actually was a really good result for him yesterday.
06:38In behind Brad Binder.
06:39Yes, Binder's making life difficult for him,
06:42but he's got the start he needed.
06:44He's in front of Marc Márquez and Eneo Bastinini
06:47as Márquez now comes through on Jack Miller.
06:49I was just about to say, it's a rare moment,
06:52that opening lap, Márquez ended up getting beaten up a bit.
06:54He got the start and then there were a few corners
06:57where he got sort of pushed out of the way.
06:58Let's watch him now.
06:59Now he's got past Miller.
07:01He's got clear track ahead of him.
07:03What can he do?
07:03What lap times can he do?
07:04Other things at play today, tyre pressures.
07:06We all hear us talking about it.
07:08I'm sorry to say at some point...
07:09Bastinini from miles back.
07:11Yeah, he has come from pretty much Tokyo to throw that move in there.
07:14And that's two hours to the south of this Motegi circuit.
07:17And that's cost him bulk time.
07:18That's the problem with those moves.
07:19You can't pass a rider from that far back.
07:22Generally, it means you're going to break about probably five meters later.
07:25If you break five meters later, you're not making the corner.
07:28He had to relinquish then.
07:29He was thinking about going through on Miller.
07:31Miller's scrapping as much as he can.
07:33He'll know that Bastinini will want to get through and get past,
07:36but he's scrapping for his own points here today.
07:39Through victory corner on board with Eneo Bastinini.
07:42And that's Pedro Acosta.
07:44After the sprint crash yesterday,
07:45he has now crashed out of second place in the race.
07:48One of the favourites for it today.
07:50But it's not been a weekend to remember,
07:52despite that first pole position.
07:54No points scored.
07:56Does he touch the kerbs?
07:57He uses a lot of kerb there.
08:00Could be.
08:00It's hard to tell from that angle.
08:03I mean, you cut the first part of the kerb.
08:06And you obviously tie it into victory corner.
08:08And while that happened,
08:09Jorge MartÃn got through on Brad Binder as well.
08:12So perhaps Binder a little bit unsighted there.
08:14And through goes MartÃn.
08:16So that's released him to Bagnaia.
08:19It's worked out perfectly at this moment, hasn't it, for MartÃn?
08:21It has.
08:22Sat there in second place with 20 points.
08:24He'd only actually been losing five points to his championship rival.
08:28And starting from the fourth row of the grid,
08:30with only three laps in, he would have taken that.
08:33Again, that's a lunge from a long way back.
08:35He's going to make it stick.
08:36Yeah, he will.
08:37Unless Jack can square him off and fire it up into turn nine.
08:41Should have a little bit of a run on him.
08:42Is Jack going to?
08:43No, he's not.
08:44He's going to sit in now.
08:45Over deep again for Bastianini.
08:47He's pushing into it.
08:48It's almost as well, it's like Bastianini knows.
08:51He's watching the race slip away from him in these opening laps.
08:54The gap from himself to the leader is now at three seconds.
08:57So, or to Bagnaia anyway,
09:00who is out on his own at the front of this race.
09:031.4 seconds, the gap.
09:06Talk about how strong Bastianini will be.
09:08Talked about how strong Wacosta would be.
09:09But I think all of us deep down knew that Pekka Bagnaia
09:12was the one that you had to beat today.
09:14Yeah.
09:14Because he's looked good all weekend.
09:16Yeah, he has.
09:17In the few moments, remember on Friday,
09:19how many times he came into the pits.
09:21Yeah, yeah.
09:22Trying to get the setting right.
09:24They were trying as many times.
09:25They were panicking because they knew they got mixed weather all weekend
09:28to try some different scenarios to see what it felt like.
09:31Again, Bagnaia, two tenths of a second,
09:33fastest lap to start with.
09:35Two tenths of a second faster than Jorge MartÃn in second.
09:39Six tenths quicker than the existing race lap record
09:42set by Jack Miller two years ago.
09:43Remember, it was a wet race last year.
09:45There has been dampness in the air.
09:47I'm not going to tell you what happened in Moto2.
09:50Suffice to say, it was shortened due to spots of rain
09:54and then incredible things happened.
09:56But it's been tricky out there today
09:58and that will be playing in their minds.
10:00It's now Marc Marquez.
10:01He's coming from a long way back.
10:02Binder again.
10:03It's going to be tricky.
10:05What he's doing is breaking so deep into the corner,
10:07Binder.
10:08He's leaving the door wide open.
10:09Yes, that's the way he does it.
10:11That's the line.
10:11You can see him sideways,
10:12but Marc was close enough to get it stopped.
10:15Clean pass.
10:16You have to give credit, don't you,
10:18to both MartÃn and Marquez
10:19from 11th and 9th on the grid.
10:21They're sitting in the podium positions
10:23and we're only on lap five of the race.
10:26Yes, well, we quite enjoyed qualifying
10:28because it made it a little bit of an upside down grid
10:32which usually creates good racing.
10:33Look at Else who's made moves on these early laps.
10:36Alessio Sparga who said,
10:37I'm going to be much better with the medium tyre in my bike.
10:40And so it's proving to be.
10:41He's ahead of Maverick Viñales
10:43who started on the front row.
10:46This is the start from Marc Marquez.
10:47This will be interesting.
10:48A bit of a wheelie which is not normally good,
10:50but you can see the riders next to him.
10:51So he gets a better drive.
10:53Let's see how aggressive he is into one.
10:55Around the outside of Morbidelli.
10:57Viñales is half asleep.
10:59Viñales should cut back.
11:00Yes, but then if you've got the inside line,
11:03you've got to be more aggressive.
11:04You have to really force it.
11:06He sounded annoyed then.
11:08I know, it's only because of that.
11:10He's got the Morbidelli on the inside as well,
11:12but you're right.
11:13I'm slightly annoyed only because it's just like,
11:14you feel like it's a waste of a weekend
11:16for someone who's got so much talent.
11:18Oh, fastest man on the track by a long way.
11:22Yeah, he's been nowhere all weekend.
11:24This man, number 89, Jorge Martin,
11:28just set the fastest lap
11:29and he was 0.4 of a second faster
11:32than the man in front.
11:33Are we going to get the championship showdown
11:35that we've been begging for?
11:37Not too many times have they exchanged paint.
11:40Not too many times have they diced it out
11:42and duped it on the racetrack,
11:44but we could well get that today.
11:46It just snaps a little bit back into line there
11:48for Peko Vanyaia,
11:50but it could be that Martin is able to close it on Vanyaia.
11:54You feel like Vanyaia,
11:56with a second over second gap,
11:58gets the chance to manage things.
12:00He was doing that yesterday.
12:01Yeah, at this point as well,
12:02it's a crucial point of the race,
12:04saving your tyres, not overstressing them.
12:07That's before we start talking about fuel.
12:09Yeah, I'm interested, yeah,
12:10exactly about front tyre pressures as well
12:11for Jorge Martin in this position.
12:13He will not have expected to be in traffic,
12:16and I'm sorry,
12:16he will have expected to be in traffic,
12:18not at the moment as he is by himself.
12:21Yeah, yeah, which is a slight concern,
12:23but there's one thing,
12:24there's nothing he can do about it now.
12:25He's ended up a little bit in no man's land,
12:27but you are right,
12:28the team will have expected him to be in traffic
12:30for a longer period of time.
12:31I mean, he's been on his own now for,
12:33well, he was only in traffic for three laps.
12:35All they need to do is get the rim to leak,
12:38don't they?
12:38That's what needs to happen.
12:40That, of course, is Pedro Costas.
12:42I'm not going there.
12:44So here's one for you,
12:44I was just thinking,
12:45so these two went head-to-head last year,
12:47the whole season went down to the last round in Valencia,
12:49nothing between them,
12:50there were mistakes,
12:51but there weren't a lot of classic racers this year.
12:54We've had carbon copy mistakes,
12:56and it's them two,
12:57head and shoulders really above the rest.
13:00And we've not seen many battles.
13:01When was the last time these two went proper head-to-head?
13:03That's what I'm saying.
13:04I don't think they've been head-to-head.
13:05The head-to-heads have come,
13:06with Marc Marquez and Eneo Bastanini.
13:08They are the jokers in the pack,
13:10they're the wild cards,
13:10they're the ones that it feels like
13:12getting the show started, don't they?
13:15They're the ones rocking up to the party
13:16with a barrel or two.
13:18Because at this point,
13:19if you watch,
13:20he's closing in,
13:210.2 of a second quicker than Jorge MartÃn,
13:23so if he's going to close in,
13:26who's your money on in a scrap?
13:27Because we've not seen them together,
13:29proper fighting.
13:31We have two races a weekend as well,
13:33so we've had quite a few races this year.
13:3630, is it?
13:37How many have we got left?
13:3931.
13:4031 races,
13:42and they've not battled.
13:43Or am I missing something?
13:44Has there been one this year
13:45where they've really gone to and fro?
13:47I can't remember.
13:48Off the top of my head, I can't.
13:49No, there's the yellow flag out
13:50in the second part of the racetrack.
13:53Thankfully, it's none of the top 10.
13:55Augusto Fernández,
13:56who really has not enjoyed his Japanese Grand Prix.
13:59I heard him interviewed
14:00in front of the fans earlier today,
14:02and the question was,
14:04are you enjoying the Japanese Grand Prix?
14:05And he goes, no.
14:06I said, no, nothing against Japanese fans,
14:08but I've just been having a terrible time.
14:12No, it's just been a year to forget, hasn't it?
14:15All I can say is,
14:16it would not be nice
14:18being Pedro Acosta's teammate.
14:21When someone's that good,
14:22it casts such a huge shadow over
14:24to your side of the garage.
14:26All the attention's on him.
14:28Understandably.
14:29Bastanini well wide there.
14:31It felt like dragged in by Brad Binder there.
14:33You see Brad Binder
14:34and implant that rear tyre sideways
14:36down into the corner.
14:36You think, oh, I'm going to have a chance here,
14:38but he just got dragged in by him.
14:40Having a couple of times yesterday
14:42for Ené Bastanini.
14:43As we come onto the front straight,
14:44Pekka Bagnayer,
14:46top left of your picture,
14:46he's just rounding Turn 1.
14:48Just see him in the distance.
14:50Brad Binder's ahead of us here
14:51with Ené Bastanini,
14:52and then Marc Márquez ahead of him.
14:57Spreading out ever so slightly
14:59at this moment of the race.
15:02Bastanini trying to eat the ground up.
15:04Brad Binder's pace has not been
15:06too bad this weekend.
15:08It makes you wonder how Brad Binder
15:10has any tyre left.
15:11We were on board with Bastanini,
15:13so we could see him laying rubber
15:14coming out of the corner.
15:16That's the lap in Pedro Acosta,
15:17who's picked his bike up and going again.
15:19He's doing the correct thing,
15:21trying to keep out of the way.
15:22He's going to continue circulating.
15:23You never know.
15:24You could pick up points.
15:25And you need the data as well, don't you?
15:27There'll be fuel data,
15:29that kind of thing, won't there?
15:31That'll be interesting to see.
15:34You can touch the inside of the white line.
15:35Yeah, it's hard to sound again
15:35from that angle, isn't it?
15:38End of the race for Acosta.
15:41Two crashes from the weekend.
15:42More crashes than anyone else
15:44in MotoGP this year.
15:45The rookie is learning
15:47in the style of Marc Márquez,
15:49in terms of that respect anyway.
15:52So now you're going to have a look here.
15:54Oh, man, how do you out-brake?
15:56So deep.
15:58Looks like he's missed a corner,
15:59but he hasn't.
15:59The apex is back there.
16:00Absolutely perfect.
16:01But that's where the opportunity
16:03gives you that open door, doesn't it?
16:05You are able to match him on the brakes.
16:07But the problem is doing that first part.
16:10Yeah, I think it's called easier said than done.
16:12Yeah, exactly.
16:12Spots of rain.
16:13Or is that wishful thinking?
16:16Are you wearing your glasses?
16:18I think they might have been
16:19on the camera lens though.
16:21Just having a look out the window.
16:23It's definitely a little bit grayer
16:24out there at the moment.
16:25Don't tell me we're going to get flag to flag.
16:27We didn't think we were getting
16:28anything today at all.
16:29Bright and sunny this morning
16:30at the racetrack.
16:31The Etiatonic Cup race
16:32was in beautiful sunshine.
16:34Pinto on the brakes
16:35then took about five bike lengths out.
16:37And as you call it,
16:39he likes to be the corners
16:42right out to the outside kerb,
16:43stop the bike and fire it out.
16:44Like I didn't finish what I was saying.
16:46I can't believe he has any rear tyre left
16:48because it's sideways all the way.
16:50And you can see it laying rubber.
16:51He's sideways all the way out.
16:53He's laying rubber.
16:54Incredible.
16:55That wide shot we saw there.
16:57Very, very gloomy, hasn't it?
16:58Overhead.
16:59Just keep our eye on it.
17:01Remember, no stoppages
17:02for weather in MotoGP.
17:04If the rain does come,
17:07it'll be deemed a flag to flag race.
17:09The white flag will be weighed.
17:10This definitely looks like,
17:11maybe it's dirt.
17:12I think it's on that front on board
17:14of Bastinini.
17:15Just a little smudge, isn't there?
17:17No, what it is,
17:18is it's rubber flying up
17:19from the man in front of it.
17:20That's what it is.
17:21There's that much of it hitting the screen.
17:22Right.
17:22He's positioned himself perfectly now.
17:24Bastinini shouldn't get the run through here
17:25and he might have a look
17:27down into this corner here
17:28into turn nine.
17:29He's set it up.
17:30He's set it up.
17:30He's going for it.
17:31He's going to go wide.
17:33The classic cut back.
17:35Oh, and then he gets the pump
17:36off the rear tyre.
17:37Yeah.
17:37And that's the problem
17:38the KTMs have actually been having.
17:40That when you're trying to
17:41open the gas with your bike,
17:42just cranked over too much,
17:44you get this vibration.
17:45And so what does Brad Minden
17:47try and do to avoid that?
17:48He gets it,
17:49he tries stood up,
17:50doesn't he?
17:50Not to basically open the throttle
17:52on too much of the edge of the tyre
17:54because that generates this vibration.
17:56Yeah, you're right.
17:56He's got a full explanation of it
17:59or example of it there.
18:00Exactly.
18:00Exactly that.
18:01Yeah.
18:01How do you get rid of
18:03vibration on the side of the tyre?
18:05Spend as little time
18:06on the side of the tyre
18:07as you can.
18:07Make your time on entry and exit.
18:09Sacrifice a little bit in the middle.
18:11Frankie Morbinelli's just got through
18:12on Miller
18:13and as he does that,
18:15ah, white flag's gone out.
18:17Riders are allowed to swap bikes.
18:18Hang on a minute.
18:19I just sent Michael Laverty
18:20out of the commentary box
18:20to see if it's raining
18:21and he came in and he looked at me
18:22and he went,
18:23no.
18:23So he's sacked.
18:26Sorry, Michael.
18:27At the front,
18:27the gap is down to two thirds exactly
18:30of a second,
18:300.666 between
18:32Jorge MartÃn
18:33and Peco Bagnaia.
18:35Both in deep here.
18:37Again, Bindo,
18:38is he going to cut back to the inside?
18:41Not on this occasion.
18:42And Bastanini needs to act quickly here.
18:45MartÃn chewing up the ground on Bagnaia.
18:47They've got that white flag.
18:48That means they can come in
18:49and they can switch to another bike
18:51and that bike has to be shod
18:53with the opposite tyre
18:55of what they're currently running.
18:56I'll tell you what I wouldn't be doing.
18:58When they're waving white flags on a corner,
19:00if I'm Brad Bindo,
19:01I would not have my back wheel
19:02sliding out on the kerb.
19:05He don't care, does he?
19:07Bagnaia's pace has just dropped, hasn't it?
19:09By a couple of seconds.
19:10There'll be a couple of spots.
19:12And what happens when you see that?
19:14When you're leading,
19:14there's more pressure on you, really.
19:16It's always tricky.
19:17You are the first across
19:19where it's starting to rain.
19:20Now, if you're following
19:21and you see the rider in front,
19:23you see that obviously that he's got grip.
19:25He doesn't crash.
19:26You can maintain the same speed
19:28and close that gap.
19:29I genuinely didn't think
19:30we were going to get a race on our hands
19:31between the two championship rivals today.
19:35I didn't.
19:35But it looks like it's building nicely.
19:38Bagnaia has responded on this lap,
19:40I will say.
19:43The times when you sort of want
19:44the white flag thrown out
19:46and you want there to be a flag-to-flag
19:48and just shovel things up today,
19:50that's quite like Jorge MartÃn
19:52in a head-to-head fight.
19:53Like, they get right onto the back of Bagnaia
19:55and then we're going to see, aren't we?
19:57Then that gauntlet has been laid down.
19:59Marc Marquez, a distant third at the moment,
20:01two and a half seconds behind,
20:02but he'll happily pick up any pieces.
20:05We've joked about it in the Hayakawa,
20:07in the hotel,
20:08when we're chatting about what we'd like to see.
20:10And we keep saying,
20:11it'd be nice for these two to...
20:13Yes, they get on and they respect each other,
20:14but it would also be nice
20:16if there were a little bit more needle between them.
20:18So, is this the beginning of it?
20:21In the distance, definitely brighter
20:23in some parts of the racetrack,
20:24like out towards Turn 1
20:25and then gloomy around here.
20:27This is where we saw the white flag being displayed.
20:31So, still Bagnaia leads under the tunnel out of Turn 5
20:36into this vast, beautiful part of the racetrack here,
20:38climbing steadily uphill through 6 and then into 7.
20:43I'm thinking they can't maintain this speed.
20:46We're not at a half-race distance
20:48and I'm looking at the lap times the leaders are doing.
20:50They're in the 44s.
20:52If you go down to, let's say, Jack Miller in eighth place
20:55and lower than that, they're doing 46s.
20:58We never usually see a gap like that.
21:01We've had a strange weekend where we've had mixed weather,
21:04so they've not been able to do long runs on the medium tyre.
21:08It makes you wonder if there's two ways of going about this,
21:11as in, you can attack the first half of the race,
21:13you're going to suffer on the second,
21:15or take it steady, relatively steady early on,
21:17so you've got some tyre left.
21:19And not just in terms of tyres.
21:21Fuel is the other option, the other thing to think about.
21:25This is a thirsty racetrack.
21:27Already, Peco Bagnaia, a couple of times this weekend,
21:30three times, has run out of fuel.
21:32Yesterday, he got the wrong mapping
21:34and because he didn't run the fuel-save mode
21:36on his final warm-up lap,
21:38he had to run a little bit leaner
21:40throughout the rest of the race,
21:41and that just affected him.
21:42And so, with effectively a litre less in a full race,
21:48you have 12 litres for the 12-lap sprint,
21:50you have 22 for the 24-lap main race,
21:52so you have less fuel available to you.
21:55And they're running a similar pace
21:56as they were in the sprint race.
21:59Japanese bikes led by Fabio Quartararo,
22:02ahead of Joan Zarco.
22:05That's 12 against 13.
22:07It always felt like when we came here,
22:09this would be the track that would be...
22:12We call it almost...
22:12It's a natural dyno test track, isn't it?
22:16Well, it is Honda's test track, yeah.
22:19So we have lots of long straights,
22:21we've got lots of heavy braking.
22:22They've put a few twisty parts in
22:24to see, you know, if you're designing a bike,
22:26how it works, but with these slower corners
22:28where you're accelerating out,
22:30essentially what this track...
22:31Why Honda have built the track like this,
22:33when they're developing a bike,
22:34it really helps them work out
22:36how to get the most out of their engines.
22:38But that was in the olden days.
22:39This one down there.
22:40Yeah, Maverick Vinales.
22:42A straightaway, he walks away from the motorcycle.
22:45He's done.
22:46Going home.
22:49He's had pace this weekend,
22:50puts it on the front row of the grid,
22:52but it's just...
22:55He's trying to keep up with his teammate,
22:57Aleix Sparger, and spins out.
23:01Never looked like an Aprilia track.
23:04He says,
23:05people are criticising me as a rider.
23:07It's a bike issue at the moment that's costing him.
23:10I have to say, with him and Aleix
23:12around about the same position,
23:13I tend to believe him.
23:15It looks like it's stalled,
23:18as in with regards to development a little bit.
23:21And obviously, there's been an announcement this week
23:23that the main man is leaving.
23:25Romano Albeziano is moving to HRC,
23:28which is a massive, massive thing in racing.
23:31We've been...
23:32For Honda to employ someone that's
23:35not a non-Japanese person,
23:38who's not come through the ranks,
23:39they normally keep everybody sort of within the family,
23:42don't they?
23:42So it's a huge step.
23:44I think it's a great signing.
23:46Now a few light shadows underneath the bike there
23:48as they came down towards turn three.
23:51Still just under 12 laps remaining in this race.
23:533.4 down towards the 90-degree right-hander of turn five.
23:59Beko Banyaya leads Jorge MartÃn.
24:03We are past the halfway point
24:04of this 24-lap Grand Prix of Japan.
24:07Banyaya has led from the off,
24:10made a brilliant start, I will say, in the race.
24:12When I remember speaking to him
24:14after the Indonesian Grand Prix,
24:16and he said, six in a row now.
24:17That six in a row where it's either spun up,
24:19it's wheelied, it's bobbled.
24:21He was bob on today.
24:22Yeah, bob on today.
24:24And again, with what?
24:25Yeah, bob on today.
24:27And again, we're watching the two main men
24:30on the absolute limit.
24:32Look at them on the absolute limit.
24:34It looks like the bikes are gliding around.
24:39If you'd go down to sixth place,
24:40we've done 12 laps.
24:42They're half a second a lap faster
24:43than 12-lap Marco Bizecchi or Frankie Mobideli.
24:46Can they keep this going is the question.
24:48What's happened this year?
24:50We've seen so many mistakes
24:52and everything looks perfect until it's not.
24:54I'm concerned more about Jorge MartÃn in second place.
24:57The fact that he's talked about
24:59locking on the front so many times.
25:01The other thing I have got to concern about
25:03is tyre pressures
25:05because all the front four
25:08are apart from each other on track.
25:11You know, as in, they're all getting cool air
25:14on their front tyre.
25:18Majority of them.
25:19I'm saying maybe not Bagnaia,
25:20but the others will have expected to be in traffic.
25:22Will have expected that we've got to set a low pressure
25:25because if we're stuck in behind someone,
25:27it's going to cost us.
25:29So that's going to be interesting
25:30to see if that becomes a factor.
25:32Jorge MartÃn has just in the last couple of laps
25:35had to roll off the pace ever so slightly.
25:37Yeah.
25:37He's back into the 45s.
25:39The only rider in the 44s is Bagnaia at the front.
25:42Yeah, I think that's what we've seen is Jorge MartÃn.
25:45He will have had some warnings
25:47and the team will have said to him,
25:49you're starting on the fourth row of the grid.
25:50I'll tell you what, if we can get a podium,
25:53that will do.
25:55Listen to the bike.
25:56Listen to what the bike's talking to you.
25:58It's telling you where the limit is.
26:02Turn one for Marc Márquez.
26:04Very, very deep.
26:05I wonder where the time had gone there.
26:06Yeah.
26:07But the front tyres, Neil,
26:10starting to protest at this stage.
26:12Yeah, a long way to go as well.
26:1411 laps round here.
26:15All these braking zones.
26:17That would have been a warning, won't it, for Marc Márquez?
26:19Absolutely.
26:20Yeah, that's not a mistake as such.
26:21It's not like he's got his brake marker wrong.
26:24He'll have grabbed the brake aggressively like he does.
26:26Bastianini, the thing's skating around behind him.
26:29Yeah, and it will have lost some traction,
26:32released the brake a little bit
26:33just so he doesn't crash and run off the track.
26:36Yeah, suddenly at two seconds across the line,
26:38it now stands at 0.8
26:41between Marc Márquez and Enea Bastianini,
26:43who, as you say,
26:44slides it down the hill into turn 11.
26:47It's a great corner.
26:50It is one of the trickiest corners in MotoGP.
26:54Turn 11, so steep downhill to it.
26:58Comes at the end of the longest straight here
27:00on the Mortegi circuit.
27:02Yeah, nearly technical.
27:03Nearly half a mile from start to finish,
27:05but it's the drop, isn't it?
27:07From the halfway point on that straight,
27:09the track just falls away into this bowl.
27:13Yeah, and there's no camber at that turn
27:14when you get down to turn 11 as well,
27:16so there's nothing to support the tyre.
27:18Lonely ride for Brad Binder in fifth,
27:20and then behind him, Frankie Morbidelli.
27:22You can see Marco Bizecchi really has spread out here
27:25at Mortegi.
27:26At the front, the gap also opening up now.
27:28It was up to one and a half seconds there briefly.
27:35Pedro Acosta comes back in.
27:35Yeah, you could see that.
27:36Actually, it showed him earlier riding around,
27:38and you could see that moving.
27:40You get to the point where you think,
27:41well, I'm actually probably not going to score points here.
27:44It was around in 18th place.
27:46You know, that's very much one of those tech three.
27:48Hervé Pontcherelle, you win as a team,
27:50you lose as a team,
27:51and the arm straight away around the young shoulders
27:54of Pedro Acosta from his crew chief, Paul Treverthon.
27:58And there will be other days.
28:00There will be other days.
28:02I can't wait to see him in Australia,
28:04is all I'm saying.
28:05I think, yeah, he'll without a doubt be in the mix.
28:08What's good about Australia is it's not a dyno track.
28:12It's a rider's track.
28:13It's not all about ride-out devices.
28:15I think they'll use it.
28:17They'll obviously use it on the straight.
28:19I'm trying to think where else they'd use it.
28:20That's it, I think.
28:21Do they only use it at one spot around that track?
28:24I think that's the case.
28:25I don't know where else you can put it.
28:26Yeah, so essentially, it's not down to who's got the best bike.
28:31There couldn't be one out of turn two, could there?
28:32No, I wouldn't have thought so.
28:33That was the only other part I think they might have had.
28:36No, because then that means you're tipping into third.
28:37Exactly.
28:39And then out of Siberia,
28:41you know, I don't think you'd be doing it there
28:42because then you're in the hay shed.
28:43So, you know, it's not going to happen.
28:46Just on Peko Vanyaia here, Neil,
28:49could be his fourth double of the season.
28:52It could be his best season in terms of wins,
28:54eighth win of the season.
28:56This one, if Peko goes on to do it,
28:581.6 now clear of Jorge MartÃn.
29:01That's the best from anyone since Marc Marquez in 2019
29:05with still four rounds to go.
29:07And actually, of the riders to have won
29:10in the MotoGP era, eight races,
29:13it means he would join Marc Marquez,
29:16Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
29:20And that's it.
29:21Yeah.
29:22Not bad company.
29:23Not bad.
29:24And he claws back, crucially,
29:27more important than any of those statistics,
29:30five points.
29:31The Jorge MartÃn bringing it back to 10.
29:33And it could so easily be in the other way around.
29:36It was last year when MartÃn did the double here
29:39and it could have been out to 30 points.
29:41And then you are thinking with four rounds to go,
29:43forget about it almost.
29:44But now it's back to 10.
29:46It's on there.
29:47It's on again, isn't it?
29:48It's wide open for Phillip Island.
29:51That said, there's still nine and a half laps to go.
29:55With watery sunshine coming through the clouds,
29:57you can just see the bright sunshine
29:59and the shadows underneath the bikes
30:00as they come out of the hairpin.
30:02Still some dirty, dark clouds around.
30:04How are the front tyres faring?
30:06We've seen some mistakes already.
30:11We've seen mistakes already from these two
30:1411 times this season.
30:17Are we going to see another one here today?
30:20Essentially, though, what it means is
30:21for all the team members, for both riders,
30:25you can't relax at any point.
30:26You don't think, oh, well, we've got this in the bag.
30:29We'll take a second place.
30:30Because this is still riding so on the limit.
30:33Yeah, you can't say, oh, we're going to win
30:34the German Grand Prix.
30:36Two laps to go.
30:38You can't say from Jorge MartÃn's point of view,
30:42can you?
30:42I'll crush out from the lead.
30:44These things have been happening all season.
30:46Last lap of the sprint for Peco Bagnaia
30:48back in Barcelona.
30:50As Jack Miller now comes under pressure
30:52from Aleix Espargaró.
30:56Both of them lapping in the mid-146s
30:58with Bagnaia down into the low 145s.
31:03Two riders with quite old school riding styles.
31:07To watch.
31:11Back up a ninth place between the Aussie and the Spaniard.
31:15It's a much better ride for Marco Bizecchi.
31:17Yesterday, he was way off it.
31:21He's got a much better pace today.
31:24Bizecchi seventh, DiGiantonio eighth,
31:26and then Miller ninth.
31:28But you can't believe it as well.
31:29The reality is, I was looking,
31:30and you could see Fabio in the back of the shot,
31:32who's currently in 11th place.
31:34He's riding on the absolute limit.
31:37He's not riding around because he's not
31:39in a battle for the podium.
31:40He's not thinking, well, it doesn't really matter.
31:43It's the home race, obviously, for Yamaha.
31:46And it just shows, we talk about how far
31:50manufacturers are off.
31:52So Quattroro's in 11th place.
31:53He's 22 seconds behind.
31:56Yeah, after having had great races in Indonesia,
31:59or a little bit wider there for Espargaró,
32:03or in Misano, for example,
32:05and we've started to see the little first glimpses.
32:09As you see those little vapor trails,
32:13the vortices of the aero of Jack Miller's KTM.
32:18Good to see them make an appearance again.
32:24The Malaysian's wide there.
32:27Do you know the difference, right?
32:29So we're watching the Malaysian and Miller,
32:32and I'm seeing big apex misses, mistakes here and there.
32:37Every time I watch Peko Banyaya,
32:39it's just like I'm watching the lap before,
32:42or the lap before, or the lap before.
32:44It is perfect.
32:46Close your eyes, Neil, and tell me,
32:47who's the fastest rider on the circuit at the moment
32:50with seven to go?
32:51Number 23.
32:52Of course it is.
32:53A 1.45.1 from him.
32:55Compare that to Marquez's 1.45.3,
32:58or Banyaya's 1.45.4,
33:00or MartÃn's 1.45.6.
33:02He's half a second quicker at this stage
33:05than MartÃn, Eneo Bastidini.
33:07I've read this book before.
33:09I think I know this one.
33:11Is this the one where Eneo Bastidini finishes third,
33:14and he's the fastest man in the second half of the race?
33:17Yeah.
33:18From lap 13 to 24 instead of lap 1 to 12.
33:22It's forever the story,
33:24and it's why this man is not keeping him in Ducati Red next year.
33:29Still the gap at the front.
33:30It was at 1.8.
33:32I wonder if there's been a mistake there from Banyaya,
33:34because it's suddenly gone down.
33:35It went down to 1.5.
33:38So I just wonder whether there might have been
33:40something from Banyaya, a warning perhaps?
33:43Well, what we'll be able to see is
33:44if Banyaya sees his pit board
33:46and the gap's come down by two or three tens,
33:48what we've seen so far, he normally responds.
33:51What's so good from Jorge MartÃn is
33:53he's keeping the pressure on.
33:55He's keeping...
33:56Even though the gap has been growing,
33:58he's keeping him honest.
33:59He's not thought,
34:00right, I'm going to roll off.
34:01Yeah, two turns quicker on that last lap.
34:03Quarter of a second, in fact, from MartÃn to Banyaya.
34:05One and a half seconds the gap here.
34:07It's come down again on this lap.
34:090.562 between Marc Márquez and Danilo Bastidini.
34:16There's your front runners into turn three.
34:18Banyaya from MartÃn,
34:20and then 93 of Marc Márquez from 23 of Banyaya Bastidini.
34:27The GP23 of Marc Márquez versus the GP24 of Banyaya.
34:33From Márquez's point of view in that GP23 battle,
34:37he's nine seconds...
34:39No, 12 seconds clear of the next GP23 in Marco Buscechi.
34:44Yeah, I think it just shows the quality of the rider.
34:47You'd think Marco Buscechi finished third in the world last year.
34:53The gap is coming down at the front.
34:56We're now down to 1.4.
34:58Do you feel like MartÃn had a couple of laps off, maybe,
35:01just to get everything back under control?
35:04Can you ask me that question in about two more laps?
35:06No, no, no, the whole point of commentary as you see it right now.
35:11It was wide there.
35:13So that was a slight mistake.
35:15From Banyaya.
35:16From Banyaya.
35:17Yeah, and that's why they're telling him...
35:21Riding behind.
35:21The gap is coming down another tenth.
35:241.3 seconds.
35:27Not a race at all, ladies and gentlemen.
35:29We've got the tyres to think about.
35:31We have got the fuel to think about on this lap.
35:33The last lap was two tenths, nearly a quarter of a second.
35:36And it's, look, 0.07, 0.07, 0.07.
35:40That's already 0.2 on this lap alone.
35:43When we come to the line now, they come across it.
35:45The gap total, well, the gap between them, again, a quarter of a second.
35:51Five to go.
35:52Oh, it makes this lap important now.
35:54And let me tell you what it feels like.
35:56If you are Jorge MartÃn now,
35:58you've seen that the last two laps you've managed to get,
36:01you've basically got half a second in two laps.
36:03Now, it gives you hope.
36:05You think, okay, I'm exhausted.
36:07My tyres are sliding around.
36:08I feel like I'm on the limit.
36:10But he must be feeling worse.
36:12And it just gives you that.
36:13It gives you that boost to attack that a little bit harder.
36:17A little response from Bagnaia in the first part of the racetrack,
36:20under the first bridge.
36:25Second split comes just as they tippet into Turn 7,
36:28the place where Pedro Acosta crashed out of the sprint yesterday.
36:31Frankie Morminelli has hunted down Bram Binder.
36:34He's been half a second quicker than him over the last couple of laps
36:37and could be about to make it a Ducati top five
36:40to back up their top seven from yesterday.
36:43What a shot!
36:45It's so good being on board.
36:46There's that many moments that a racer has in a race
36:49that you miss, you don't see.
36:50That was a great shot of Morminelli
36:53around the fourth gear corner there.
36:57Sideways.
36:58Morminelli on Binder.
37:01Won't be easy to get past.
37:02But Frankie can have a little bit of spikiness about him
37:05sometimes in this situation.
37:08Not afraid to put in a firm move.
37:10And there we go.
37:10He absolutely blows that corner.
37:12So that will be all to do again for Frankie
37:14to get right back onto the rear of Brad.
37:16But they're the mistakes I'm talking about.
37:18And that's why Frankie Morminelli is 14 seconds behind
37:21Van Jaer on the same bike.
37:24If you want to win the MotoGP World Championship now,
37:26you have to be perfect.
37:28You have to put the perfect racer together.
37:30Gap at the front again, Neil.
37:32Another two tenths.
37:34Four laps to go.
37:351.1 the gap.
37:37He's taken seven tenths out of him on the last three laps.
37:41There are still four to go.
37:43So by my calculation, it wouldn't necessarily be enough.
37:47However, once you're within that second, all bets are off.
37:50So I've told you how it feels if you're Jorge Martin.
37:52Do you know what it feels like if you're Van Jaer?
37:54You're on the absolute limit.
37:55All the warning signs are there.
37:57You can't go any faster.
37:58Your heart rates through the roof.
38:00You're starting to panic.
38:03And you're looking at your pit board
38:04and you're seeing it come down.
38:06And now you're trying with the choices in your head.
38:08Going, if I push any harder, I'm going to crash.
38:11So I can't ride any harder.
38:14What do I do?
38:15Do I let him catch me and pass me?
38:17You're counting down the laps.
38:18There's only three and a half laps to go.
38:19You've just got to be absolutely perfect.
38:22The mistake you can make now is try something different.
38:25Try and move your brake marker later.
38:27Get on the power earlier.
38:28If you do anything like this at this point in the race,
38:31you'll lose more time because you'll miss an apex.
38:33You'll spin up.
38:34You'll get out of the seat.
38:36And that's what we call putting the pressure on from behind.
38:39And that's what Jorge MartÃn is doing superbly
38:42at this moment in the race.
38:44The gap was at a second through the third split.
38:46It's under for the first time in a long time in this race.
38:49Jorge MartÃn down to 0.9 of a second now
38:53between himself and Peko Van Jaer.
38:55This could be the championship right here, right now.
38:57This is what he will have in his sights.
38:59Can he threaten Van Jaer?
39:01Can he put the pressure on?
39:02Can he do like Van Jaer did to him back in Germany?
39:06Can he force the champion into a mistake?
39:08Or will he sit resolute?
39:11At the front of this race, there are three laps to go
39:13in the Japanese Grand Prix with the sunshine now bearing down
39:16on top of them.
39:17The gap stands at nine across the line.
39:19Another lap, he's taken tenths out of Van Jaer's lead.
39:23Yeah, under a second, 0.3 of a second, or just under 0.3.
39:26Well, you can see there, 0.2 of a second quicker.
39:29And now he's believing.
39:30Now it's all instinct if you're MartÃn.
39:32You just, he has to go for it.
39:36He has to throw everything at it.
39:38This is a huge swing in the championship, a 10-point swing.
39:42If Van Jaer wins, the gap stands at 10 points.
39:46If MartÃn wins, it's back up to 20.
39:49Remember, there are four rounds to go in this championship.
39:53The gap is 0.8 of a second through the first split.
39:56Still coming down.
39:58Still coming down.
40:00Top left of your picture, you've got them on screen.
40:02You can follow with us as we watch Jorge MartÃn close in
40:06on Francesco Van Jaer.
40:08He wants his crown.
40:09He wants to depose the King of MotoGP at the moment.
40:13And he is doing everything within his power,
40:16from behind, from second place.
40:18Another couple of hundreds in that second sector
40:21on the racetrack.
40:22But MartÃn, is it just too little too late,
40:25or will Van Jaer blink?
40:26He's getting the warning, Van Jaer.
40:29Does that affect him like it's affected Jorge MartÃn
40:32back in Misano?
40:33Jorge Van Jaer, as cool a customer as he appears.
40:37For the first time, the gap's grown ever so slightly.
40:40It's gone back up to 0.9 of a second through the third split.
40:44Underneath the bridge, there'll be two laps to go
40:47when they round this really tricky combination of 12-13
40:51into the right-hander, victory corner,
40:54and onto the home straight.
40:56They'll just cross it two more times
40:59before the chequered flag is waived.
41:01Back out to a second.
41:03That's the response, and you feel like,
41:05no, you just need one mistake.
41:06Van Jaer needs a mistake from MartÃn.
41:09MartÃn needs a mistake from Van Jaer.
41:12In the battle of a third, it still rages on,
41:14but Marquez keeping Bastinini at bay at the moment.
41:170.6 between them across the line,
41:19but Marquez is pulling out every time
41:21in the first part of the racetrack, which surprises me.
41:27Through the first split, 1.1.
41:30Van Jaer coming back,
41:34pushing on for these latter stages of the race.
41:36The gap back out to 1.2 seconds.
41:39Van Jaer could have broken MartÃn here now.
41:42We switch the attention to third place
41:44and the battle between Marc Marquez and Eia Bastinini.
41:47And look, that would close them up in their battle
41:49to be on the rostrum at the end of the season.
41:52Unreal, isn't it?
41:53There's no love lost between these two.
41:55Gap at the front, nearly 1.5 seconds.
41:58Van Jaer's done it.
41:59He's broken the elastic, as we would say.
42:01He's just done enough.
42:03He didn't panic.
42:06He's been consistent with the lap times.
42:07It was MartÃn who was going fast, who closed the gap.
42:10And as soon as...
42:11It's just broken MartÃn's spirit.
42:14He just did that, put that perfect lap together.
42:18And the gap is up to 1.7 now.
42:22Marc Marquez hanging on in front of Bastinini,
42:24but it's this sector where Bastinini's been taking time
42:27out of Marc Marquez.
42:28There'll be one lap to go after this one.
42:31Maybe one big last opportunity for Bastinini
42:33as we saw them battle it out yesterday.
42:36Will we have another scrap for the final podium place today?
42:40It's the last lap now of the Japanese Grand Prix.
42:43One to go for Peco Van Jaer versus Jorge MartÃn.
42:47The gap across the line at 1.6.
42:49Van Jaer's responded superbly.
42:50In fact, it was MartÃn dropping his pace on that lap.
42:53He's into the 1.46s for the first time,
42:56and I think his race is run
42:58unless some drama befalls Peco Van Jaer.
43:02Marc Marquez still hanging on in front of Bastinini.
43:04They are faster than the leaders, the pair of them,
43:07as they do battle for third.
43:09But we switch to the world champion, Neil, and this.
43:12You know, after a tough weekend back in Indonesia
43:15from Peco Van Jaer,
43:17things didn't quite necessarily go to plan.
43:19Yes, he got the sprint win,
43:20but then third in the race on the Sunday
43:22with MartÃn winning,
43:24extended that lead back out to 21 points.
43:28But he will go to Australia with the gap closed to 10.
43:32Yes, absolutely. Job done.
43:34The gap was up to 21 points,
43:36and then he came here, did Bagnay,
43:38and knowing MartÃn was going to be favourite,
43:39because MartÃn had done the double last year,
43:41but he didn't let it affect him.
43:42We've had rain all weekend.
43:43We've had mixed conditions,
43:45but your champion stayed focused,
43:48worked on his race set up for Sunday.
43:50And look at him.
43:51It's, again, it's just another perfect race.
43:53Not missed an apex, not put a wheel wrong.
43:56Stunning.
43:5724 points the gap before we went to Indonesia.
44:00It closed by three over the Indonesian weekend,
44:03and it will close again this weekend.
44:04That's the first time the championship hasn't swung
44:07since Assen to Germany.
44:10Yes, all those races ago,
44:11back before the summer break,
44:13it swung every single race weekend.
44:15But this time, Peco Van Jaer is going to do it.
44:18He's going to extend his winning streak to eight
44:21in this MotoGP season,
44:23much more than anybody else.
44:25Jorge MartÃn with three this year,
44:27but it's Van Jaer who matches the likes of Casey Stoner,
44:30Valentino Rossi and Marc Márquez
44:32by winning eight in a MotoGP season.
44:35He is closing the gap down to 10 points
44:37with Jorge MartÃn in second place.
44:40A really good ride from MartÃn,
44:42you have to say,
44:43having started on the fourth row of the grid.
44:45Marc Márquez completes the podium in third.
44:47A great return for the Grissini man this weekend.
44:50Bassi Nini is fourth,
44:51with Mauro Rodelli getting Binder for the line.
44:54He's in fifth.
44:55Binder is sixth,
44:56with the VR46 duo behind them.
44:59As Takanaka Kami comes to the line
45:01to pick up points for LCR and for Honda.
45:04A huge wheelie, I like that,
45:05from Taka in front of his home fans.
45:08Only one man who has done the double again here today, Neil.
45:12Peco Van Jaer,
45:13in the face of pressure from his title rival.
45:17He stood up to it.
45:18Yeah, and that's what we've learned.
45:19That's what we've learned over the past five years
45:21watching this man's career.
45:23In the junior classes,
45:24he wasn't, let's say, a massive standout.
45:27He wasn't the superstar,
45:29like we see some riders coming through.
45:31But with Van Jaer,
45:32he's an intelligent rider
45:33and he's just got faster and faster throughout his career.
45:36Won the Moto2 championship,
45:37moved into MotoGP,
45:39struggled initially,
45:40but then has now gone onto this winning streak.
45:43Two times world champion
45:45and now he closes the gap to 10 points.
45:47It's a pleasure to watch when he rides like that.
45:49I'll be honest,
45:50what happens in these races,
45:51sometimes they're not classics.
45:52You're not going to be talking about it in years to come.
45:54But when I'm watching a mistake-free race,
45:57that means more to me than a last lap battle.
46:00That you're going,
46:01oh, that was fantastic.
46:02People let the brakes off.
46:03I like to watch perfection
46:04and that's what I've just witnessed.
46:06Perfect Peco yet again.
46:08But Jorge Martin,
46:09a quick word on him from the fourth row of the grid.
46:13He will be flying home tomorrow.
46:16There are so many positives.
46:17He's had a tough weekend.
46:18It's not quite worked out.
46:19He crashed in qualifying.
46:21The setting wasn't right,
46:22but there's no quitting him at all.
46:26We go to Phillip Island in two weeks' time
46:29and there's 10 points in it.
46:31We might as well say we're all square.
46:33It's that close, isn't it?
46:35Who's your favourite for that track?
46:36Well, Martin was the fastest last year,
46:39but he did go for the softer tyre, didn't he?
46:41So that gave him a slight advantage.
46:43Yeah, I wouldn't like to be able to call it
46:45because I know Marcus will be strong there.
46:47You know, there's other people
46:48who will fancy their chances around that.
46:51A beautiful racetrack in Phillip Island.
46:53That's in two weeks' time for the Australian Grand Prix.
46:57As Bagnayer shakes the hands with his pal,
47:01Marco Bersecchi, who finished in seventh today.
47:03Look at the names that Bagnayer has matched
47:06with his eighth win,
47:07his best return in a MotoGP season so far.
47:10And that's in a season
47:11which has seen him commit mistake after mistake.
47:14I've said it before,
47:15I think we'll appreciate how good this man is
47:17when he retires,
47:19because there's no fancy celebrations,
47:22there's no entourage.
47:25He keeps himself to himself.
47:26He's incredibly humble.
47:28And polite and friendly.
47:30Every time we have any dealings with him with the TV,
47:32when he's come over with us,
47:33look at that, there's a mute.
47:35That's like a, that's a limit.
47:38Chapeau from Jorge Martin.
47:39That shake of the hand is European for,
47:43that was tough.
47:47Good to see the respect, isn't it,
47:48between front runners in MotoGP.
47:53Yeah, I think Bagnayer was saying,
47:54what pace you had in that race.
47:56Fair play, mate.
47:58You've got me thinking about Phillip Island, though.
48:01I'm going to make an early call.
48:04I love an early call.
48:05I am going markets for the win,
48:07anticlockwise.
48:09We know he goes well around there.
48:10He's a leveller,
48:11so then he won't be as much of a disadvantage on the 23 Ducati.
48:14What do you think?
48:15I don't think it's a bad shout.
48:17Not around there.
48:18I think it's a rider's racetrack, isn't it?
48:21Italian's 900th Grand Prix win.
48:25That's a pretty impressive statistic, isn't it?
48:29As he rolls back down.
48:31I feel like he'll be exhausted.
48:33Those races are the hardest.
48:35His concentration level is out of this world.
48:41The one thing I was looking for was a ticker on the bottom of the screen,
48:43hoping, hoping that there are no tyre pressure infringements or penalties
48:48that we're going to have to wait another hour and a half for,
48:51which I have to say I understand eventually.
48:54It's really hard, though, isn't it,
48:55for us as a TV broadcaster to not be able to sign off from a program,
49:00knowing if we've been able to give you the results or not.
49:03That's the one issue with it, isn't it?
49:05Grey area of the championship that I can tell you nobody likes.
49:10No.
49:10Riders, teams, obviously TV.
49:13And the stewards.
49:15And the stewards, fans.
49:17But it's something we have to deal with.
49:21Something requested by the teams originally, let's not forget.
49:23It was, it was.
49:25Right, there is Marc Marquez.
49:26Another solid performance from ninth on the grid.
49:29He comes into his own when he's qualified further down, doesn't he?
49:32Yeah, he does.
49:33He got the most out of it.
49:34Finished the race just 3.8 seconds back.
49:37The next 23 Ducati was 19 seconds.
49:42Pretty much 15 seconds faster than Marco Berzecchi.
49:49He's going to be a threat next year for this world championship.
49:51That is a fact.
49:52I'm going to chuck him in.
49:54The only shame for me is MartÃn in the Aprilium
49:57hoping that that bike works for him.
49:59Because I'd love to have seen that.
50:03It's a shame Ducati couldn't keep them all on factory motorcycles.
50:07But it wasn't to be.
50:09Made polite.
50:09Japanese crowd.
50:10Celebrating Magnani's win in the Ducati stand.
50:13But also Takanaka Dami.
50:16Emotional ride.
50:17Pick up points in his own Grand Prix.
50:21Still four more to come for him
50:23when he becomes part of that Japanese test team for Honda.
50:27Alessio Spargro will head up the European test team.
50:30I think it's fair to say Honda will make some strides forward.
50:35This is their track, let's not forget.
50:38And again, Johan Sarko, their top finisher in 11th place here at Motegi.
50:4731 seconds back.
50:49Yeah.
50:52It's not ideal, is it?
50:54We've had nine wins here in the past.
50:57We've had nine wins here in the past, if you think about it.
50:59Mark Marquez wins.
51:00Dani Pedrosa around here.
51:02Let's hear from Mark now.
51:04This time on a Ducati.
51:05He's on the podium.
51:10Mark, another great podium.
51:12It might not have been the change of position fight today with Bastianini.
51:16But it looked like a hard fight nonetheless.
51:19Yeah, super boring race.
51:20I mean, no overtakes.
51:22Just there doing your rhythm.
51:25It's true that in this racetrack, when you are close to another one,
51:28the drift and the brakes makes everything much more difficult.
51:32But I'm happy.
51:33I'm super happy.
51:34I knew that with that medium rear tyre, for some reason, I didn't feel comfortable like the soft yesterday.
51:40But it was the best option to be on the podium.
51:43The soft option was too risky.
51:45So yeah, happy.
51:46Another podium with a difficult weekend.
51:49But we're on the podium again.
51:50So super happy.
51:51Congratulations.
51:53He said it, not us.
51:55Mark Marquez.
51:56But you know, sometimes, as you say,
51:58sometimes those kind of races really do challenge the riders more than anything.
52:01Don't they?
52:02To keep their wits about them.
52:03We saw him have that one moment, didn't we?
52:05Running wide at turn one.
52:08Yeah, that's about it.
52:09That's it.
52:10That is it.
52:15Yeah, the long races as well, when you're on your own.
52:18Just sort of doing that.
52:20There are a lot of gaps out there.
52:22As Akagami is going to go.
52:23It's Louis.
52:24Our social media team running behind.
52:26I'm not sure about his running technique.
52:28Do you know what?
52:28He actually is quite a good runner as well.
52:30I don't know what that weird hobble he's got doing.
52:32He's going to get arrested.
52:33Looks like a stalker.
52:37Oh dear.
52:38We love Louis.
52:40All right.
52:40Let's see it from Jorge Marti.
52:42Picks up 20 points from the fourth row.
52:44Jorge, you've got to be pleased with that.
52:47After difficulties with the front end,
52:49then the crash and qualifying 11th on the grid through to second.
52:54Yeah, thank you.
52:55I'm happy about the result today.
52:57I think we did an amazing race.
52:59For sure, being that close to victory.
53:02Not to victory, but close to Peko.
53:03I wanted to give it a try.
53:05So I never give up during that race.
53:08I pushed till the end.
53:09Then three laps to go.
53:10I had some moments.
53:12So I said, OK, Jorge, it's time to relax, to think about the points.
53:17And congrats to Peko.
53:19Amazing job.
53:19He's the master in managing the tyres.
53:23So I did a good job, I think.
53:24Nice first laps.
53:26I'm super happy about this second position.
53:28Congratulations.
53:30Jorge Marti, in the past, may well have not heeded those warnings.
53:33And might have just gone for it.
53:35But he's a change rider this year.
53:37Yeah, it's all true.
53:40We didn't see the moments,
53:41but he'll have felt them through the handlebars.
53:43That is a fact.
53:44He's been talking about them all weekend, hasn't he?
53:46Yeah, yeah.
53:46The locking of the front.
53:48The dreaded locking of the front.
53:51All those aero attachments on the...
53:54And still see a little vibration from his bike down there through 11.
54:00Master of the tyres, though.
54:02Master of management, Peko Banyaya.
54:05I mean, you know, it's not Fast Freddy, is it?
54:08Or the Thunder from Down Under.
54:12But master of tyre management is what's worked for Peko Banyaya.
54:17Very catchy, that gap.
54:18As he takes his fourth double of the season.
54:21Peko, I think you showed everyone why you're two times world champ.
54:26The way you managed everything today.
54:29How do you feel about it?
54:30I feel super happy.
54:31We managed to gain 11 points during this weekend.
54:34So we must...
54:35Was the maximum.
54:36Is the maximum.
54:37So very happy.
54:38Jorge today was much stronger compared to the other day.
54:42So I was just trying to manage the gap.
54:44Because it wasn't easy today to remain constant with the tyres.
54:47I think the pace was incredible.
54:49The first 10 laps were incredible.
54:51So super happy.
54:53We have to move on in the next one with the same ambition, the same strategy.
54:58And try to continue like this.
55:00Congratulations.
55:04Well, peerless this weekend, Michael.
55:06I think it's fair to say Peko has been...
55:08He's done everything right from the front of the grid.
55:12And really from Friday.
55:13He must have been absolutely cock-a-hoo.
55:16Because to know that your main rival is way back down on the fourth row.
55:21Because it was kind of cooked on Friday for Jorge Martin.
55:24He's made the best of the situation that he's been in.
55:26But Peko is just...
55:28He's just done what Peko does.
55:30Yeah, he was in control this weekend.
55:32It is a track that suits his heartbreak and natural riding style.
55:36Jorge was fast here one year ago.
55:38But had to dig into his reserves this weekend.
55:40Had to work to get the setup.