2024 Japanese MotoGP: Pedro Acosta crash gives Francesco Bagnaia important sprint win
Heartbreak for poleman Acosta gives Bagnaia important sprint win at Motegi
A late crash for Japanese Grand Prix poleman Pedro Acosta gifted Francesco Bagnaia an important sprint victory to close up his deficit in the MotoGP standings to Jorge Martin.
Tech3 rookie Acosta stunned in Q2 when he took his first pole in MotoGP and looked on course for a first sprint win when he assumed the lead on lap three of 12.
He held Bagnaia at bay and began to pull away on lap nine when Acosta crashed out at Turn 7, promoting the factory Ducati rider into the lead.
Despite almost being caught by Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez on the last lap, Bagnaia held on for a third successive sprint victory to close Jorge Martin’s championship lead to 15 points.
Martin came from 11th to fourth but couldn’t get involved in the podium battle.
From second on the grid, Bagnaia took the lead off the line to head team-mate Bastianini and Acosta as the threat of rain hung constantly over the Motegi circuit.
Acosta very quickly took second from Bastianini when the Ducati rider ran wide at Turn 5, with the Tech3 GASGAS rookie pulling away at the front with Bagnaia.
On lap three, Acosta threw his KTM up the inside of Bagnaia into Turn 5 on lap three and was able to quickly get his lead up to around 0.4s.
At the start of lap nine, Acosta’s lead was 0.6s and rising through the first part of the ninth tour.
But at Turn 7 he tucked the front of his motorcycle on the way into the corner and crashed out.
This promoted Bagnaia into the lead, while Bastianini came under threat from Gresini’s Marc Marquez for second.
On lap 11, Marquez and Bastianini battled hard through Turns 9, 10 and 11, with the latter coming out on top. This scrap gave Bagnaia a 1.3s lead to start the final tour.
But Bagnaia’s gap evaporated across the final lap and he took the chequered flag just 0.181s clear of Bastianini.
Marquez completed the podium having come from ninth on the grid, while Pramac’s Martin could do no more than fourth from 11th.
His championship lead has been knocked down to 15 points ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.
Franco Morbidelli was fifth on the sister Pramac Ducati, with Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth for VR46 ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, who dramatically faded out of podium contention on the opening lap.
His Aprilia team-mate Aleix Espargaro crashed out late on, with Honda’s Joan Mir and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami also tumbling out of the sprint.
Nakagami was taken out by his team-mate Johann Zarco at Turn 2 on lap five, with the Frenchman handed a long lap penalty. He finished 14th behind top Honda Luca Marini.
Fabio Quartararo was the leading Yamaha in 12th, while KTM’s Brad Binder retired from the early podium battle with a technical issue.
