2024 Japanese Moto3 Grand Prix - Race Results

Round sixteen of the Moto3 championship, the Japanese Grand Prix,saw the first champion of 2024 crowned, after a perfectly timed move to the front saw David Alonso take the crown to Colombia for the first time in style at Motegi.

The CFMoto Gaviota GasGas rider won the last round in Indonesia and earned a front row start to give him the best chance of securing the title in Japan.

The #80 dropped as low in the early stages where he admitted he thought he would have to settle for points and let the title fight run on until Australia.

Alonso was never out of the lead group, patiently fighting forward and taking advantage of errors to move back into the top three.

With the opportunity laid bare the eighteen year old took his chances - a well timed move at turn three saw him up to second behind Ivan Ortola on lap thirteen, with a pass on Adrian Fernandez as they went under the bridge seeing him hit the front.

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Once ahead Alonso held the lead to come out of Victory Corner victorious - in not just the race but also the championship.

Alonso was immediately surrounded by bikes as his rivals rushed to congratulate him, before stopping to pick up a dual Spanish and Colombian flag pole at turn three to celebrate his parentage.  At turn eleven the teenager was greeted by his first minimoto bike, which he promptly crashed while celebrating, followed by a video montage of his career to date as the team prepared his bike with a number one plate and a gold helmet to head to parc ferme.

Alonso takes the title with impressive stats - having secured ten wins out of the sixteen races so far he equals Fausto Gresini, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir with ten wins and with four rounds remaining the chance to equal or better the best lightwieght win record of all time - the eleven wins of Valentino Rossi.
 

Polesitter Ivan Ortola moved back into second to pursue Alonso but found his limit crashing out at turn ten on the penultimate lap.

Collin Veijer was the rider who finished second, with a similar race story to Alonso, having initially slipped back before a late rally on the Liqui Moly Intact GP Husqvarna, 0.524s behind.

Long term race leader built on his first ever podium in Indonesia, where he finished second, with a second consecutive rostrum visit, this time taking a hard earned third on the Leopard Honda.

Daniel Holgado quickly made up for his qualifying performance, which saw him in ninth on the grid to run as high as second before slipping back to fourth for Red Bull GasGas Tech3.

Jose Antonio Rueda was also heading in the right direction from 14th on the grid, racing his way to fifth at the chequered flag.

Ryusei Yamanaka was the top home rider in sixth for MT Helmets - MSI, ahead of fellow Japanese rider Tatsuki Suzuki in seventh on the second Husqvarna.

David Munoz was the next rider to cross the line in eighth for BOE Motorsports, just ahead of Taiyo Furusato, who took ninth at home for Honda Team Asia. Stefano Nepa completed the top ten for LevelUp - MTA.

Matteo Bertelle managed his track limits warning to finish eleventh for Rivacold Snipers, clear of teammate David Almansa who was twelfth.

The remaining points went to Filippo Farioli in 13th for Sic58 Squadra Corse, Riccardo Rossi in 14th for CIP Green Power and top rookie in the race Joel Esteban who collected the final point on the second Aspar bike.

Crashes, Injuries and Replacements

Noah Dettwiler crashed out at turn four on the first lap with Tatchakorn Buasri having a near identical spill two laps later.

Luca Lunetta was next to exit, followed bt Nicola Carraro.

There was a late fall from the lead group for Angel Piqueras, who span his bike again as he tried to remount.

Ortola was more successful in rejoining, back on track for 16th with Joel Kelso also back after his fall in 21st.

As Eddie O’Shea picked up an injury on his debut in Indonesia the MLav Racing team ran a home replacement in Motegi, Rei Wakamatsu. The Japanese Moto3 rider was 20th , one spot behind regualr teammate Scott Ogden in 19th.

Championship Standings

Alonso only needed until round sixteen to take the championship title, which he did with a total of 321 points.

After movement in the race fourth was enough to see Holgado remain second overall, with 209 points, ahead of Veijer who is third on 212.

Ortola remains on 191 after falling from the lead group.

In the rookie standings Piqueras still leads on an unchanged 131 after his DNF, with nearest rival Lunetta also failing to finish, so remaining on 78.