Marc Márquez and Raúl Fernández have advanced to the second qualifying for the MotoGP Japanese GP. They were the fastest riders in Saturday’s Q1 session at Motegi, while four factory riders failed to progress.
After the first flying laps, the leading riders were Márquez (Repsol Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), with Augusto Fernández (GasGas Tech3/KTM) in third, 0.372 seconds behind the top two.
The situation remained the same after their second attempts, but after the usual pit stops, Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) moved into second place and displaced Quartararo from the qualification zone.
By the end of the session, Márquez and Raúl Fernández secured the top two positions and advancement to Q2. Augusto Fernández improved his lap time but finished in third place, just 80 milliseconds away from the qualifying cutoff.
Four factory riders failed to make it through to Q2: Quartararo, Joan Mir (Repsol Honda), Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha), and Michele Pirro (Ducati), who finished 11th and last.
Results: