This last weekend Japanese GP had a peculiar sunday MotoGP long race, to say the least. The conditions were complicated in Motegi and just a little after the start the race was considered Flag-to-Flag, with the white flag to be shown, allowing the riders to change their bikes.

And not every rider has a similar style has LCR Honda shared on social media as Takaaki Nakagami and Stefan Bradl can show you in the video below.

Both riders had a slightly different approach:

O conteúdo Video: Takaaki Nakagami «vs» Stefan Bradl: How do LCR Honda riders swapped bikes in Japan GP? Discover the differences aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The Japanese Grand Prix ended prematurely due to the worsening weather conditions, which seriously complicated the safety of the riders, and in the end Jorge Martin secured another victory, beating (again) Francesco Bagnaia, in a result that earned praise from Gigi Dall’Igna, with the italian also leaving very positive words for Pramac.

The General Manager Ducati Corse at Ducati Motor Holding gave his view of the events on Linkedin, and how these were not the best conditions for the reigning world champion: ‘A GP that speaks for itself, repeatedly conditioned by the rain and halted halfway, at a moment that was decisive. We were fast and competitive, Pecco was giving of his best in conditions that he doesn’t particularly like and it would have been most interesting to see the ultimate result of a challenge that we were managing, so to speak, with a focussed race strategy’. 

If on the one hand Bagnaia managed his first podium in wet conditions, the truth is that in the last few GPs the fight for the title has been completely relaunched, with Martín now just three points behind #1:

– A spirited Jorge, relentless, another perfect weekend for bike and rider, yet another pearl for a Team that is working superbly, nurturing World Championship ambitions that honour the great Ducati family. For us, nevertheless, a positive weekend during which we worked well and were turning out a good performance in general, particularly taking into consideration those wet conditions.

O conteúdo Gigi Dall’Igna praises Jorge Martin and Pramac: ‘Spirited and relentless; Another pearl and nurturing World Championship ambitions’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Cal Crutchlow was one of the standout riders at the start of sunday’s MotoGP race at Motegi, but not for the best reason, but more because of a decision that turned out to be… wrong. The british wildcard rider admitted his mistake by continuing on track when almost everyone else had gone to the garage to change bikes with rain tyres.

‘Well, obviously it was the wrong decision because then we were too far back. Yeah, I should have picked it before and then we would have been in a better position, because my pace in the rain was actually really good. It was the right decision to stop the race’ said the Yamaha test rider, who races in the colours of the Yamalube RS4GP Racing Team.

The 13th-placed rider continued his analysis by explaining that he even had a good pace at the time the race was stopped: ‘When the red flag came out I actually had passed the two guys ahead as well but then it goes back a lap. Anyway we learned… We had some data and learned some things, but yeah I made a mistake of not coming in’.

And he explained how he managed to stay on the track and how he didn’t expect the rain to be so heavy: ‘The lap that everybody else came in because I didn’t think it was raining that bad and what I did was I put the power down on the bike and turned the traction control fully on so I could still have a little bit of grip and was able to manage that situation if it stopped raining or stayed the same’.

He concluded: ‘It was the right decision… In the end we all had dry visors on, the water coming in the helmet, which is normal for everybody, so the visibility was really bad, really really bad’.

O conteúdo Cal Crutchlow admits mistake in not changing bikes straight away at Motegi: ‘It was the wrong decision; I didn’t think it was raining that bad’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The Japan GP was marked by the session taken on sunday to red flag the long race on sunday due to the worsening of the weather conditions, a decision that mostly was accepted by everyone. One of those is Massimo Meregalli, who just wants to forget about this race and focus on what is coming next.

For the Team Director of the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team this was one of the most complicated weekends so far: ‘This was one of the more complicated weekends of the season so far. We had a difficult qualifying, a challenging Sprint, and this sunday the Race was interrupted due to the heavy rain causing poor track conditions’.

The decision to stop the race was the right one to be made, he added: ‘We fully agreed with the decision to red flag the Race when they did. There is not much to say about the 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’.

O conteúdo Massimo Meregalli happy with decision to red flag sunday’s race: ‘This was one of the more complicated weekends of the season so far’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Pol Espargaro had a hard time this sunday in MotoGP at Motegi in the long race due to track conditions that exacerbated a problem he was experiencing with his bike, which wasn’t developing as he wanted. So when the flag was shown, the rider felt relieved.

For the GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 rider, there were more difficulties than expected, he began by saying: ‘It was a complicated day. The start of the race was more tricky than I expected, in these conditions and everything was crazy, too much so. About the race I don’t know what to say, I had a lot of difficulties, something tremendous and much bigger than usual and normally in wet conditions I’m not too bad but this Sunday I had a lot of spin from first gear to sixth on friday’.

What he felt was mainly a lot of slowing down and, when the conditions worsened and he headed for the box, Espargaro admitted he felt relieved: ‘Everyone was overtaking me in that area and I was very annoyed about it and it was a relief when we had the red flag because I was going slower and slower’.

After the red flag and with the prospect of going out on the track again, the mechanics made some changes to the bike and everything was apparently sorted: ‘Then I changed the tyre and when I got back on the track and everything started working, so I believe that by changing the rear tyre something changed on the bike and then I even had twice as much acceleration as in the first race. It was very strange. We have to understand what happened and maybe I overheated the tyre on the first or second lap… I don’t know. Something happened to the bike’.

It’s worth remembering that, after returning to the track, the organisation called off the race because the rain didn’t let up and it was extremely dangerous to ride.

O conteúdo ‘It was a relief when they showed the red flag’ – Pol Espargaro aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

During this Japan GP sunday’s press conference with the top three of the main race, Francesco Bagnaia made a little joke with Marc Marquez hinting this race in Japan could have been a farewell to the manufacturer, recalling a old episode of Valentino Rossi.

Marquez considered this to be a ‘very romantic podium’, even more at Honda’s home GP, which had a funny comment from the italian who interrupted the #93 to say: ‘Bye bye Honda’.

The spaniard asked right away: ‘No! Why?’, with the current world champion to reply back resembling the farewell of Rossi to Yamaha: ‘The kiss of Valentino’, in a memory of Rossi’s shirt saying ‘Bye bye baby’ back in 2004 when he kissed his Yamaha machine.

O conteúdo Video: Pecco Bagnaia plays with Marc Marquez hinting Honda’s farewell aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Things didn’t go as planned for Miguel Oliveira in this Japan GP mostly due to a visor malfunction that ruined the portuguese race this sunday. Razlan Razali addressed the rider problems and assured there must be done something and understand what happened.

CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team’s Founder and Team Principal began his review of the round considering this to be chaotic, something that the fans watching would have liked a lot to see: ‘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 […]’.

As for what happened with Miguel Oliveira, Razali said:

– 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.

O conteúdo ‘We have to understand what happened because Miguel can change his equipment when he has a problem; He couldn’t see anything’ – Razali aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Raúl Fernández ended the Japanese Grand Prix with a significant amount of frustration. The Aprilia rider faced a penalty in the form of a Long Lap due to an incorrect bike position during a change. The bike was not within the designated lines, leading to the penalty.

Fernández expressed his annoyance, stating, “It’s not just about losing three positions. It affects the hard work of a team comprising more than 50 people. It’s not acceptable.” He continued, “We’re in the best championship, and the rules that we have are sometimes a joke,” he fumed. “A joke. We need to improve the f***ing penalties. You can kill one rider and you have a warning, but if you close the line one pitbox before yours, you have a long lap. This is a joke.”

“OK, if you do it the first time and to have a long lap? This is a stupid thing. I’m really happy with the work we did during the weekend, fighting for top six, but the penalty wasn’t the correct thing. We are in the f***ing MotoGP championship and sometimes we look like children. When you have more than 20 people behind you, they can’t destroy your race.”

Fernández was visibly upset about the in-race penalty. He emphasized, “We have the best championship, with all the top manufacturers. The bikes are incredible. The current influence of MotoGP is immense. And for such a trivial matter, you get a Long Lap penalty?”

He added, “Our position was to finish sixth. It doesn’t change from sixth to ninth. It’s clear that our performance isn’t a one-off, and we’re consistently up there. But this irks me. Every action has different consequences. I apologize, but this seems surreal.”

Explaining the incident, Fernández said, “When entering to change the bike, there were about eighty mechanics crossing paths. The mechanics with the panels stand up early when a rider approaches. I was passing by and saw a stop sign being lifted instead of being held in place. That’s why I went in that direction. Otherwise, there would have been a collision in the pit lane.”

He acknowledged, “Perhaps I didn’t handle it well. It’s my first ‘flag to flag’, which is understandable. But not even a ‘warning’? Just a Long Lap. The team laughed it off, but once it’s done, there’s nothing you can do.” Fernández concluded by explaining his stance on the situation.

O conteúdo ‘You can kill one rider and you have a warning, but if you close the line one pitbox before yours, you have a long lap. This is a joke’ – Raul Fernandez aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

As soon as the rain began to fall more heavily at Motegi, Marc Marquez was one of the first to ‘ask’ for a stop to the race and admitted afterwards that racing in such conditions was really ‘impractical’, even though the rain itself allowed the spaniard to gain positions in the race, which he finished third.

‘When I saw that a few drops were falling, I said: «The opportunities are opening up». I saw that there was rain, that on the first lap we changed to rain tyres, so I saw that it was going to be a long race, and that’s why I was very cautious at the start, because the asphalt was dry and if you push too hard the tyres get destroyed, so I was quite calm,’ said the rider quoted by DAZN at the end of the race.

However, it wasn’t until the rain got heavier that I started to feel better, although this continuous worsening made it impossible to ride safely, he added:

– When the rain started in earnest, that’s when I started to feel good, to push harder, because the tyres held up well. I was recovering and reducing, I was very comfortable, but before the red flag and despite being one of the fastest on the track, I put my hand up because it was impractical, there was a lot of water on the track and I was aquaplaning. In this case, it was a good decision.

Marquez concluded: ‘I felt good, but I was looking for it. At the start I didn’t feel good, I was losing positions. But the feeling wasn’t very good. But when there was more water on the track I started to go like last year in qualifying, more relaxed, but I felt the bike and that allowed me to move up’.

O conteúdo Rain «helped» Marc Marquez to recover in Motegi’s sunday race, who didn’t forget the red flag: ‘It was impractical’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

It was a race with a bittersweet flavour for Francesco Bagnaia at Motegi, with the Ducati rider finishing in second position. Even so, the italian admitted that he was happy for his first podium in wet conditions, although he regretted not having the chance to fight for victory, emphasising that it was the right decision not to restart the race.

‘I’m happy because it’s the first time I’ve been on the podium in the wet, very happy. Unfortunately this was the situation, it was too risky to run, the rain was too strong. Unfortunately we had the chance to win, but in any case we’re happy with the position. Jorge [Martin] got more points but I’m happy,’ said the #1 in parc ferme.

Three points currently divide the top two in the world standings.

O conteúdo ‘It’s my first podium in wet conditions and I’m happy; It was risky to race even though I had a chance to win’ – Francesco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.