Jorge Martin took pole for the Japanese Grand Prix in MotoGP on Saturday with a new lap record in Motegi, with championship leader Francesco Bagnaia right behind him.
Current championship number two Martin clocked a minute and 43.198 seconds on the dry surface, followed 0.171 seconds later by Bagnaia and 0.353 seconds later by last year’s Japanese GP winner Jack Miller on KTM.
“I feel strong. Setting a lap record here in Motegi is always something special. I’m really enjoying this track,” said Prima Pramac Racing’s Martin, having just finished second in India last week to close the gap on Bagnaia for the championship title.
“I feel competitive. Let’s try again and try to win,” said the Spaniard.
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His time beat a record set just Friday by Brad Binder, who clocked one minute and 43.489 seconds in practice, breaking the Motegi record set eight years ago by legend Jorge Lorenzo.
Bagnaia focused on the sprint race later in the day as he continued his Season’s Cup campaign after an accident in India.
“We are so competitive. “We’ll see this afternoon, but I’m very happy,” said the Ducati rider.
Bagnaia’s crash in India allowed Martin to cut the defending champion’s lead to just 13 points with seven races to go.
Martin won the sprint race in India and came second behind the Italian Marco Bezzecchi, who will start on the second row in Motegi together with Binder and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Honda rider Marc Marquez will sit in the third row, making him the only rider of a Japanese machine in the front four rows.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published via a syndicated news agency feed – AFP).
2023-09-30 17:14:22
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