MotoGP 2023
Round 14 – Japanese Grand Prix
MotoGP Rider Quotes
Jorge Martin – P1
“I won in the wet for the first time, I’m very happy. I feel in great shape, and we have gained important points. I’m happy because we’re all working like crazy and the results are here.”
Francesco Bagnaia – P2
“It was a good race but very risky. In the last two or three laps, the aquaplaning started to be too heavy; we were all with the medium rear, so it was on the limit. Before the interruption, I was closing the gap to Jorge, but then I made some mistakes and was close to losing the front, and I was back to the same gap as before. In any case, we must be happy with this result. We know perfectly well how risky it is racing on the wet, and finishing second is a good result. Now, with three points between me and Jorge, it becomes interesting, but I like it because I think it could be a good competition between us.”
Marc Marquez – P3
“It feels great to return to the podium after so long away, and to do it here in Motegi, at Honda’s home, with so many fans and people from Honda here, honestly it is quite romantic. In the race it was all about understanding the wet tyres once we switched over, at the start it was quite dry so it was important to be careful to not destroy the tyre. I stayed calm and when I saw there was more water on track, I began to attack. I was feeling really good with my pace and I think we could have had an interesting end to the race, but ultimately Race Direction did a really good job and they made the right call at the right time. I want to say thank you to them and of course all of the Repsol Honda Team as well, days like today have many factors at play and my team worked really well to handle everything. This podium is what we have been looking for all year and it’s a nice boost for the last push in 2023.”
Marco Bezzecchi – P4
“On the one hand I am happy with the final placing, considering that we have never ridden in the wet here, we were in the strongest group until the red flag. I started well, but at the first corner, to avoid Pecco, I crashed with two other riders. Then at turn three, I felt another bump and found myself at the back of the group. I took full advantage of the opportunity and immediately changed the bike, not bad for being the first flag to flag of my career. The sensations were good, I was in the group with the strongest guys, but I was really struggling to ride with my references. I had to pick up the pace a little and Marquez overtook me. After the red flag, I imagined we wouldn’t start again: it was really too dangerous for everyone.”
Aleix Espargaro – P5
“All told, a positive day with perhaps my best performance in the wet. After the bike change, we had chosen the soft rear tyre, counting on the fact that when it rains it pours here in Motegi. Instead, on the first laps it was difficult. With not much water on the track, the soft tyre overheated and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. However, when the rain increased, I began to feel increasingly better. I was making up ground on the riders ahead of me and could have aimed for something higher than fifth place. Unfortunately, visibility was really low and it got even worse after the red flag and the restart. The decisions taken by Race Direction today were impeccable.”
Jack Miller – P6
“Let’s say that was not the best day, but not the worst either. Finishing sixth after the way things have been going lately would normally make me happier, but I felt there was more out there for us in Japan.
“You all saw what happened with the red flag, and we were set to go again with the restart and I felt like I could definitely move forwards from sixth. I made a couple of tweaks to the bike and really thought I could challenge those boys up the front once we got going again, but I guess we never did … it wasn’t to be. I wanted more, I felt like I could have got more, so there were a fair few swear words when the red flag came out again. For safety they made that choice, and we have to stick with it.
“Once it rained and we needed to do the bike swap, I was always going with the soft (rear rain tyre) even though not many of us did. After the experience of last year the medium didn’t work too great unless it was half-wet, half-dry – with that amount of water like today, I think the soft was the right choice. I was conserving the tyre and was using a soft-as-all-buggery (engine) map at the beginning, you could see the guys were passing me on all the exits of the corners. But there was a long way to go, 15 laps if it was going the duration, so I was just trying to save the centre of the tyre. As it started really raining, my tyre was still in good condition and I was coming back towards the guys at the front. But yeah, a red flag … and then a parade lap there at the end. We stayed on the bike, I was happy enough that we finished the race, and it is what it is.
“All in all though, it was definitely a better weekend. Qualifying third on the new chassis, that sort of feeling was how I was feeling after the test on Monday after Misano. India was what it was, and that wasn’t great. But coming here – of course, I’d had good results at Motegi in the past so that helps – but in general this track has a lot of grip, and I was able to use the bike the way we wanted to and play with it quite a bit, which makes it fun to ride. We’ve been getting better and better every session to be on the front row, first time since Silverstone, so that made us pretty confident.
“Being up there with these boys again in the Sprint was nice. I had a few issues trying to stop the bike and did what I could to protect myself in braking from my old mate Pecco (Bagnaia), but finally had a little moment at the bottom of the hill and I left the door open for him, and that was my downfall with only a couple of laps left. It was pretty stressful! But in general I was really happy with the performance, the pace was good and the bike had worked all day. You’re never satisfied with fourth – you’re always striving to do better – but it was a good day, especially after the couple of weekends we’d had coming in. Wasn’t too far off at all.
“It’s always good to come back to somewhere where you won the last time, the memories came back pretty strong as soon as we got here to Japan. It’d been a tough few rounds for me, but you can see we’re fighting massively to get back up the front again. We’d definitely plateaued a bit. The other guys had been improving race by race and we’d kind of stood still, so this weekend is hopefully what we needed to finish off these last six races the right way.
“Japan is one of those events you always enjoy coming to, definitely. Part of it is because of the fans, because they’re some of the most passionate ones we have around the world. Doesn’t matter if the weather is really good or really bad – like Sunday! – and it can vary so much here. But they’re always here in numbers and always happy to see us, so it’s one we all enjoy.
“As you can imagine I was pretty keen to get home and see my girls before we head to Indonesia for the next one in a couple of weeks, so it was a race to the airport on Sunday after I’d dried out! It’ll be good to get stuck into that in a couple of weeks, and then it’s my home GP – there’s a lot to look forward to in this part of the season, that’s for sure.”
Augusto Fernandez – P7
“A crazy one! But we will take that 7th. I was ready to go again for the restart but I think the decision was the correct one because the last 2-3 laps previously we were aquaplaning a lot and there was too much water on the track. I felt good in the rain anyway and was overtaking guys every lap. A good 7th and good points.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio – P8
“This GP left a bitter taste in my mouth. We had an incredible feeling in dry conditions, while at the start of this race I struggled to get the bike stopped a lacked a little bit of grip. I was charged up for the restart and with the team we came up with an adjustment that would have given me a big hand. It’s a shame that we couldn’t complete the race, we had the potential to be in the top five. We’re looking at the bright side, though, as we had two top-ten finishes in two days and now we’re going home to rest and put the shoulder in perfect conditions for the final leg of the season.”
Raul Fernandez – P9
“Today, I’m honestly quite angry for the long lap penalty. For me, I feel it was not fair. It was my first race with flag to flag in MotoGP, I crossed the line a little bit ahead of my number. Yes, that was wrong, but I didn’t have space really and in this hectic moment, I think this can happen. I think to have to do a long lap is quite harsh for this. But at the same time, I’m very happy with the work that we did throughout all the weekend. The team did a fantastic job and we were fighting for top six. Then we had the red flag because the track wasn’t safe, and we didn’t restart the race. Anyway, we will try again in Mandalika.”
Fabio Quartararo – P10
“I gave it a try to stay out one lap longer. You know, it was raining, but it wasn‘t that wet at the time. It turned out to be the wrong strategy, but I was fighting for P12 or P13, or wherever I was riding at the time, so I had to give it a try. I mean, we gave ourselves a challenge. We have to take the positives. We would have liked this to have been a better trip for us. But we need to focus on the positives. Hopefully, Mandalika will be a better track for us.”
Takaaki Nakagami – P11
“It was a crazy race, and difficult to nail the strategy. Overall, I’m happy because we’ve seen some positives this weekend to help us step forward in the next races. I want to thank the team’s job and the fans’ support during these days”.
Joan Mir – P12
“I had some visibility problems with my helmet unfortunately, it’s something I have never had in the past and today was the day. It’s a big shame, I couldn’t see so I was missing my reference points on track. When I was fighting with Miller I could see a bit, but then the rain came heavier, and it was enough to stop me. I’m really disappointed because I think we showed that there was some good speed there and we could have done something more. Now we have a week off to train and recover a bit before we go racing again.”
Cal Crutchlow – P13
“Today’s Race was eventful because on the starting grid it started to rain. We did the first laps on slick tyres. I missed the opportunity to pit early like the other riders. I thought we could take a gamble and that it might stop raining – obviously it didn‘t, it started raining much harder. Unfortunately, we made the pit stop in the wrong way, and I had to do a long-lap penalty again. So, two long-lap penalties in one race weekend. But I enjoyed my time with the YAMALUBE RS4GP Racing Team. We tried our best with regards to finding solutions with the bike for moving forward. As said, it wasn‘t my preferred bike set-up, but it was very important to get this information. We really needed a dry race today to see if we could benefit from a setting change with the bike. But we tried our best. I did a good race in the rain, and I was able to make up some good positions in the full wet conditions. I do think it was the right decision to stop the race, because the limited visibility was becoming quite dangerous. We will continue our testing programme with a test in November in Jerez and Valencia. Good luck to the two Yamaha riders for the rest of the season.”
Stefan Bradl – P14
“I’m happy they stopped the race because it was dangerous. There was no visibility on the straight, so seeing other riders’ maneuvers wasn’t easy. I’m happy with the job done, and as always, I’d like to thank LCR for another nice weekend together”.
Pol Espargaro – P15
“Today was a bit crazy. I don’t know how to feel because of the red flag but we had rear grip problems from the first laps and it was hard to understand. I was losing quite a lot of time. We need to analyse what happened so we don’t have the same issues in the case of another wet GP.”
Michele Pirro – P16
“Let’s say I played the joker card by staying out when it started raining because I said maybe it’ll stop, and so I did three laps on slicks. Afterwards, the situation was on the limit, and I had to come into the pits. Except that the others had already pulled out a lead. When we restarted, I had better confidence with the bike. I could have had a good race even in the wet, but they interrupted it. Safety comes first. It would have been nice to finish these two difficult weekends with a better result, but I thank the team for everything. At least I put my heart into it as a Ducatista!”
Franco Morbidelli – P17
“I tried to go for a different strategy and tried to stay out with slicks. It was raining, but I hoped that it would stop. It didn‘t, but it was an all-in strategy that ultimately didn‘t pay off. After, on the wets, my speed was good, but I was too far behind.”
Miguel Oliveira – P18
“It was actually going well, the flag to flag was smooth with no big issues. I changed the bike and started my wet race and I was feeling quite competitive. Then with more rain I felt even better, the bike was handling quite well. But then three laps before I retired, I started to struggle to see. I couldn’t see anything and it never happened to me, I couldn’t even see where I was going to put my wheels. There was so much water and I was telling myself to be calm and not to quit. But I came half a lap distance and that was my race finished. The guys pulled in the bike into the garage which made it complicated to then restart, but finally I could restart from the pit lane, but the race was already ended.”
Maverick Vinales – P19
“My race was over on the first corner when I was forced wide into the gravel, crashing and restarting last with a huge gap. After the bike change, to be honest, my pace in the wet was extremely good, but with so much distance to make up, it would not have been an easy race. I was hopeful for the restart after the red flag. Even though I would have started from pit lane, at least I would have had another chance.”
Johann Zarco – DNF
“From the first turn it gets jostled, I stay away from all that and unfortunately it’s not possible to avoid Vinales. I take him in the arm and in fact I have a good contracture in the front arm because I took his motorbike in my arm. Luckily I didn’t fall.
“We’ve only just done one lap, it’s starting to rain, it’s almost an advantage, so I quickly return to the pits to change bikes and there, the track is not completely wet and I manage to get back on track well. If it doesn’t rain more than that there is a way to go back and win the race. But it started to rain more and more and I continued to go back up. There were falls, it was difficult to feel the limit and with 12 laps to go there was so much water that we were doing a lot of aquaplaning. I got fooled by this aquaplaning just as I was leaving the tunnel at turn 12 and fell. I am thinking of bringing the bike back knowing that with a red flag they are taking the front lap so I am 6th.
“If I bring the bike back I can leave but the bike did not pass through the small line at the entrance to the pit lane so even if I went up the entire pit lane with it I did not pass this small carrier line and as a result I am not even classified. I’m disgusted to lose 10 points like that, even knowing the rules within 5 metres I’m classified or not classified it’s really annoying.”
Brad Binder – DNF
“Overall I think we had a positive weekend here in Japan. We were fast in all sessions and to bring home a podium in the Sprint yesterday was fantastic but unfortunately today it was tricky with the weather conditions and we came in after the first lap for the bike swap. I started to feel good in the rain and with good pace but I had a small lock going into Turn 3 and that was it. Thank you to my team for their hard work. We’ll try and make up for it next time around.”
Team Managers
Francesco Guidotti – Red Bull KTM Team Manager
“A strange Sunday! Having a flag-to-flag after one lap meant that a delayed start might have been a better decision but it is like it is. No wet practice during the weekend meant we were quite conservative with our settings and electronics. It’s a shame. We had a very good GP from Friday until this afternoon. After the Quali and the Sprint yesterday our expectations were high. In conditions like these anything can happen. It was a weird and tricky situation but our riders gave their best.”
Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director
“This was one of the more complicated weekends of the season so far. We had a difficult qualifying, a challenging Sprint, and today the Race was interrupted due to the heavy rain causing poor track conditions. We fully agreed with the decision to red flag the Race when they did. There is not much to say about today‘s Race. We will leave this race weekend behind us. We will use the one-week break to recharge our batteries in preparation for the busy GP schedule ahead.”
Pablo Nieto – VR46 Team Manager
“A particular weekend with the rain surprising everyone right at the start of today’s race. Considering everything, we must be satisfied with having brought home two excellent placings between Sprint and GP. Obviously a bitter taste remains in the mouth for the podium just missed on the red flag. Let’s not give up, let’s continue to work hard towards the end of the season. Next appointment in Indonesia, where we hope to find Luca again. The surgery went well and we are waiting for him at the garage as soon as possible.”
Nicolas Goyon – GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager
“What an epic day. We knew the rain could come in time for the race but it only just began while we were on the grid so we started on slick tires. Race Direction showed the white flags for ‘flag-to-flag’ and our guys pitted early, which was obviously the right choice. We decided to go with the soft rear tire which was a bit risky but finally the rain was stronger and stronger and this choice paid off because Augusto worked up to 7th before the red flag. It was a great result by him and he showed his high ability to race in the wet. A satisfying conclusion to the weekend. Pol struggled to have a decent pace in these conditions but we’ll keep the positives from this weekend, which was his very fast speed in qualifying. Now a one week break before moving to Indonesia.”
Razlan Razali – CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Principal
“Well, I don’t know how to describe the Japan Grand Prix, but it was chaotic, anxious and a crazy Grand Prix but I’m sure it’s pretty exciting for the fans watching at home. It was unlucky for us as we had two incidents. Raul was penalized for changing his bike incorrectly, he was supposed to go around his number rather than going before it and that incurred a long lap penalty for him. It brought him back to ninth and that is where he finished at the red flag. With Miguel, it was really unlucky, there was no problem with the bike, it was more with his visor because of the rain. He came in and he couldn’t see anything. It’s something that in the future we would need to do something rather than sitting it out, we need to understand the issue because he can change his equipment when he has a problem. It’s a new experience for everyone with this kind of condition, we still came back with a handful of points with Raul, and it’s his third top ten so far. So, we go back and rest a little bit, before we embark with the triple header in Mandalika, Australia and Thailand.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Manager
“Round 14 finished with mixed feelings. Miguel had a good pace in the race, but unfortunately it started to rain harder and they all started with the dry visor. The rain was pouring and the water came into his helmet, so he could not see anything for a couple of laps. For safety reasons, he decided to pit in. Unfortunately, again, after he came in, they red-flagged the race half a lap later due to the weather conditions. On the other hand, Raul also did a good race. During the bike swap, he came illegally before his number into the pit to change his bike, so he was given a long lap penalty, and that made him lose several places. In the end, a ninth position is very nice but it also feels like we gave away some points. But overall, the speed was there, the grip was there and the riders were fast. So, we pack up and focus on the next round now.”
MotoGP Race Results
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Jorge MARTIN | DUCATI | 24m06.314 |
| 2 | Francesco BAGNAIA | DUCATI | +1.413 |
| 3 | Marc MARQUEZ | HONDA | +2.013 |
| 4 | Marco BEZZECCHI | DUCATI | +2.943 |
| 5 | Aleix ESPARGARO | APRILIA | +3.181 |
| 6 | Jack MILLER | KTM | +6.837 |
| 7 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | KTM | +7.587 |
| 8 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | DUCATI | +8.602 |
| 9 | Raul FERNANDEZ | APRILIA | +11.229 |
| 10 | Fabio QUARTARARO | YAMAHA | +12.244 |
| 11 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | HONDA | +14.714 |
| 12 | Joan MIR | HONDA | +14.924 |
| 13 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | YAMAHA | +16.057 |
| 14 | Stefan BRADL | HONDA | +17.253 |
| 15 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | +24.921 |
| 16 | Michele PIRRO | DUCATI | +33.962 |
| 17 | Franco MORBIDELLI | YAMAHA | +1m14.934 |
| 18 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | APRILIA | 1 lap |
| 19 | Maverick VIÑALES | APRILIA | 1 lap |
| Not Classified | |||
| DNF | Johann ZARCO | DUCATI | 6.191 |
| DNF | Brad BINDER | KTM | 7 laps |
MotoGP Max Speeds Across Race Weekend
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Speed |
| 1 | Marco BEZZECCHI | DUCATI | 317.6 |
| 2 | Jorge MARTIN | DUCATI | 316.7 |
| 3 | Maverick VIÑALES | APRILIA | 316.7 |
| 4 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 315.7 |
| 5 | Francesco BAGNAIA | DUCATI | 315.7 |
| 6 | Brad BINDER | KTM | 315.7 |
| 7 | Joan MIR | HONDA | 314.8 |
| 8 | Marc MARQUEZ | HONDA | 314.8 |
| 9 | Jack MILLER | KTM | 314.8 |
| 10 | Johann ZARCO | DUCATI | 314.8 |
| 11 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | APRILIA | 314.8 |
| 12 | Aleix ESPARGARO | APRILIA | 313.9 |
| 13 | Fabio QUARTARARO | YAMAHA | 313.0 |
| 14 | Franco MORBIDELLI | YAMAHA | 313.0 |
| 15 | Raul FERNANDEZ | APRILIA | 312.1 |
| 16 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | YAMAHA | 312.1 |
| 17 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | HONDA | 311.2 |
| 18 | Alex RINS | HONDA | 311.2 |
| 19 | Michele PIRRO | DUCATI | 311.2 |
| 20 | Stefan BRADL | HONDA | 311.2 |
| 21 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | DUCATI | 309.4 |
| 22 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | KTM | 309.4 |
MotoGP Championship Points
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Bagnaia | 319 |
| 2 | Martin | 316 |
| 3 | Bezzecchi | 265 |
| 4 | Binder | 201 |
| 5 | Espargaro | 171 |
| 6 | Zarco | 162 |
| 7 | Viñales | 139 |
| 8 | Marini | 135 |
| 9 | Miller | 125 |
| 10 | Quartararo | 111 |
| 11 | Marquez | 108 |
| 12 | Morbidelli | 77 |
| 13 | Oliveira | 69 |
| 14 | Fernandez | 67 |
| 15 | Marquez | 64 |
| 16 | Di Giannantonio | 53 |
| 17 | Rins | 47 |
| 18 | Nakagami | 45 |
| 19 | Fernandez | 36 |
| 20 | Pedrosa | 32 |
| 21 | Bastianini | 25 |
| 22 | Mir | 20 |
| 23 | Espargaro | 12 |
| 24 | Savadori | 9 |
| 25 | 25 Folger | 9 |
| 26 | 26 Bradl | 8 |
| 27 | 27 Pirro | 5 |
| 28 | 28 Petrucci | 5 |
| 29 | 29 Crutchlow | 3 |
| 30 | 30 Lecuona | 0 |
2023 MotoGP Calendar
| Rnd | Date | Location |
| 16 | Oct-15 | Indonesia, Mandalika |
| 17 | Oct-22 | Australia, Phillip Island |
| 18 | Oct-29 | Thailand, Chang |
| 19 | Nov-12 | Malaysia, Sepang |
| 20 | Nov-19 | Qatar, Lusail |
| 21 | Nov-26 | Valenciana, Valencia |
