Marc Márquez celebrated another podium finish last weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix, a significant achievement at Honda’s home race before his departure. The Japanese Grand Prix was marked by unpredictable weather, with rain playing a significant role. The MotoGP race was declared a ‘flag to flag’ right from the first lap and was eventually cut short due to a red flag because of the track conditions.

However, the spotlight was on Marc Márquez, who was celebrating another podium finish. As he returned to his pit box, trophy in hand, he humorously shared an unexpected situation he encountered. “I’ve been selected for antidoping,” he exclaimed, much to the disbelief of his team members. “They can’t believe it. A podium and an antidoping test. That’s why I took so long,” he added.

Despite the unexpected antidoping test, Márquez was able to celebrate his third-place finish, a feat he hadn’t achieved in 350 days. It’s worth noting that even though Márquez finished third in the Sprint Race in Portimao and India, only the results from the main Sunday race are officially counted. Nonetheless, Márquez left Japan with a positive feeling. “Thank you, guys. It went well, right? Did you enjoy it? I didn’t,” he joked.

Later, with emotions more settled, Márquez reflected on his recent string of good results. He expressed caution, suggesting that these results might not be a true reflection of Honda’s current situation. He was quoted by Autosport saying, “No. I mean, I’d like to say yes. I’ll try to do my best, as always, but it will be more challenging. Still, we should enjoy the good moments.” Márquez also commented on the title battle between Jorge Martín and Pecco Bagnaia, whom he had the chance to observe in recent races, especially in Japan. “It was incredible. When you’re fighting for a championship, in these conditions, I know how it feels. They had a great race, they’re battling, showing extra concentration and push. Besides, it was nice to see the duel between these two guys,” he concluded.

O conteúdo VIDEO: Marc Márquez after the podium – “I’ve been selected for Antidoping” 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.

The Japanese MotoGP GP turned out to be a frustrating experience for Miguel Oliveira. The CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider entered the pits just moments before the red flag while he was fighting for a top position – all due to water infiltration in his helmet. He ended up being classified in 18th place.

Before the issues, the rider was chasing a podium finish and told SportTV that he had already figured out where he could attempt to overtake Marco Bezzecchi: ‘The bike was working well, the conditions were very tricky – especially at the start when there wasn’t much rain. It was very difficult to get the tyres to work and to get grip, especially in that initial rain, which is always the slipperiest. Braking for turn three was the most challenging part. But then, when it started raining more, I felt good, I was behind Bezzecchi, and I clearly understood where I could push a bit more and try to pass him. But it didn’t happen’.

Oliveira also said: ‘When I started having visibility problems, I even said to myself, «Miguel, don’t give up, don’t give up, keep going». But it became unmanageable for me; I couldn’t see anything at all. And it’s sad because it’s something that has never happened to me before, so I leave Japan a bit emotionally empty. But it is what it is’.

O conteúdo ‘I leave Japan a bit emotionally empty’– Miguel Oliveira aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Marco Bezzecchi finished in fourth place in the Japanese MotoGP GP after being overtaken by Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) just before the race was red-flagged. Consequently, he conceded more points to Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in their pursuit of the championship’s top spots, as both of these rivals finished first and second in this race, respectively.

The Italian rider from the Mooney VR46 Racing Team expressed to the official MotoGP website that he regrets missing out on the podium near the end but still considers the result satisfactory. ‘I feel good. Of course it’s a shame to lose the podium just two laps before the red flag, but unfortunately I had an issue with the windscreen and I couldn’t really see nothing – together with all the rain, that was a lot, it was difficult to me to be faster than I did. It’s a shame because Marc passed me in that final two laps. But at the end the fourth place is ok, we took some points and now we can think about Indonesia’.

Now further from the top of the World Championship, Bezzecchi assured that this is not his focus: ‘Well, I’m not looking to much to the championship. Of course I wanted to be closer to the guys, but first of all in the race, try to fight with them. And then the championship is more a consequence of this. But we are still there, so we keep working and we keep fighting’.

O conteúdo ‘I’m not looking to much to the championship; I want to fight with them in the race’ – Marco Bezzecchi aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Francesco Bagnaia is once again in contention for the MotoGP title, but in 2023, the situation is different from 2022. The Ducati rider now has fellow manufacturer riders as his main rivals, even though they are from different teams, whereas last year’s battle was with Fabio Quartararo, from Monster Energy Yamaha.

When asked in a press conference about how different it is to compete for the title with riders from the same manufacturer rather than from different ones, the Italian responded:

– The best thing is that like this anyone can’t say we have team orders. Last year was something that have been talked many times. This is the best thing. And fighting with other Ducati also means that if you are competitive, your main contenders also know where you are doing the difference. It’s good for Ducati, for sure, to have three guys at the front. But I prefer because it’s more difficult.

O conteúdo ‘Like this anyone can’t say we have team orders’ – Francesco Bagnaia 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.

Just moments before the red flag was shown due to adverse conditions, Miguel Oliveira entered the pits to retire from the MotoGP Japanese GP due to visibility problems caused by an issue with his helmet. He was still classified in 18th place, but had he not entered the pits, the result could have been much better.

When the race was almost set to restart, the #88 was allowed to go but from the pit lane, explaining to SportTV that it was a mistake by the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team:

– What happened was that I entered – we know that 99 percent of the time when we enter the pit during the race, we’re going to retire. Fortunately, the race direction quickly realized after my retirement that the conditions were too dangerous to race. And the team quickly put the bike inside the box, knowing that if we wanted to resume the race, the team couldn’t put the bike inside the box. This is something the team learned – they already knew about it in advance from the regulations, but they learned it in that sense. And obviously, when I resumed the race, I had to restart from the back and then start from the pit lane, which didn’t happen because by the time of the formation lap, the conditions became very similar to before the race was declared finished.

O conteúdo ‘The team put the bike inside the box; it’s something they’ve learned’ – Miguel Oliveira aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After several challenging months and being away from the desired results, Marc Márquez finally achieved his first podium of 2023 in a premier class race. He finished third at the Japanese GP, right in the home round of his team, Repsol Honda, just behind Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).

In a press conference, the six-time world champion of the premier class emphasized the importance of the result, which had been sought for a long time: ‘Of course it was an important podium: we were looking for it all the season and arrived very late. But arrived in Honda’s home circuit, in a day that I took profit from the situation, from the weather condition’.

Regarding the development of the race for him, Márquez commented: ‘I tried to manage the race in the best way. When we changed the tyres [bike] on the first lap I knew that the race would be very, very long. And during the race you have different moments: in the beginning I was struggling a little bit too much, but then I was trying to manage the tyre and when the track was in real wet conditions I started to attack and I started to be faster and faster’.

Finally, Márquez praised the riders who finished ahead of him: ‘Massive race from these two guys, that fighting against the championship it’s not easy to take the risk that they take. But we will enjoy the podium’.

O conteúdo ‘It was an important podium; it arrived very late’ – Marc Márquez aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Francesco Bagnaia has lost a significant portion of his gap in the MotoGP World Championship and now has only a three-point margin over Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati). This is with just six rounds remaining in the season.

The Italian Ducati rider said in a press conference that he anticipates an interesting and intense battle, emphasizing the importance of performing well in the upcoming GP:

– I think it will be interesting; it could be a great fight. For sure it’s more intense right now, it’s more difficult. Jorge is in his momentum, but we worked a lot this weekend and finally we found something that helped me a lot on Saturday, and Sunday was a bit better for sure. We will have our time, next races in Mandalika we will fight against Jorge for sure, but also other riders and it will be important to be at the top again.

O conteúdo ‘It could be a great fight; it’s more intense, it’s more difficult right now’ – Francesco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Miguel Oliveira was classified only 18th in the MotoGP Japanese GP, despite running in the top five and having the potential to reach the podium. Water entering his helmet hindered his visibility, forcing him to enter the pits just moments before the red flag was shown.

The CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider told SportTV that even before entering the pits, he had some close calls due to the lack of visibility, and he didn’t hide his frustration with the outcome:

– It happened that I started to lose visibility completely. I couldn’t see anything in front of me. The conditions were really challenging. I had a few scares three laps before I retired, not knowing where to put the wheels, turning too early into the corners because I couldn’t see, not knowing where I could brake, accelerate, so I was riding completely blind. Obviously, now it’s easy to say that I retired maybe half a lap too early, but the conditions were unmanageable. And it was very frustrating, yes.

O conteúdo ‘I was riding completely blind’ – Miguel Oliveira aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.