Petrucci – a double MotoGP race winner for Ducati, who has just finished runner-up in the MotoAmerica Superbike championship – has been given the last-minute Suzuki chance due to Joan Mir’s ongoing ankle injuries.

“Probably the nicest man in the paddock is coming back, what are the expectations for Danilo Petrucci on the Suzuki?” asked Podcast host Harry Benjamin.

“Well, if it’s absolutely baking hot at Buriram, then he should be well prepared for it having done the Dakar!” said former Grand Prix rider and British champion Keith Huewen.

“Thailand will be a bit like Motegi, no recent data, and the track grip will have changed since 2019 due to the extreme weather: The heat, the humidity, the monsoon rain.

“But to jump on a Suzuki, that he has never even tested before, at a place like Buriram, I can’t see he will do anything near the front I’m sorry to say.

“His best bet might be bad weather. If it rains and is consistently wet all the way through the weekend, Petrucci might be the man that can make it work.

“But it’s a very tall order. It’ll come down to whether he jumps on that bike on Friday and it suits him. If he feels at home on it.

“If that’s the case, Petrucci might finish in the top ten.”

Crash.net MotoGP editor Peter McLaren added: “Having spent his Grand Prix career on V4s at Ducati and then KTM, it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on with the Inline 4 at Suzuki, a corner-speed type of bike.

“But I also think the weather will play a big part in how his weekend goes.

“The bikes that he’s ridden in the past year alone – jumping from the KTM MotoGP bike to the KTM Dakar bike, winning a stage on that, then going to MotoAmerica on a Ducati Superbike and fighting for the title – show he’s got the ability to adapt to different machines quickly.

“So if it all clicks with the Suzuki, if he feels comfortable and confident straight away, on what might well be a low grip track – and we know how well he goes in the rain! So who knows? He’s got nothing to lose.

“I think it’s great to have Petrucci back. On the other hand, it’s a real shame for Joan Mir, but the priority has to be his fitness. Maybe Petrucci will also be needed for Phillip Island, but let’s hope that Mir can return strongly for Suzuki’s final races in MotoGP.”

Petrucci won’t be the only substitute at Buriram, with HRC test rider Tetsuta Nagashima, who crashed out of a MotoGP debut last weekend at Motegi, called up in place of injured countryman Takaaki Nakagami at LCR Honda.

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The Italian, dropped by Speed Up after a best finish of eleventh in the opening five rounds of the Moto2 season, will return to the Moto3 class where he has claimed 13 race wins.

Fenati enjoyed his best grand prix season with Snipers in 2017, taking three wins and second in the world championship.

But a step up to Moto2 with the team ended in controversy when he grabbed Stefano Manzi’s front brake at Misano the following year.

“We are happy to rejoin Romano in the Snipers family,” said team principal Mirko Cecchini. “We are sure that his talent and experience will help the whole team to increase its value.

“We both come from a delicate season in which neither of us, for reasons different, has achieved their goals. The desire for revenge will surely guide us in the new adventure. Welcome back Romano!”

“I’m happy to return to the Cecchini family, here I was vice world champion and we had a lot of fun in those years,” Fenati said. “I have no expectations other than to return to a serene and clear climate inside the garage where we can work better. “

After three more seasons – and three wins – in Moto3 from 2019-2021, Fenati made a second attempt at Moto2 this season with Speed Up – but was replaced by Alonso Lopez from Le Mans. Rookie Lopez took his first race win at Misano.

As well as four victories for Snipers, Fenati has also won Moto3 races for Team Italian (1), VR46 (6) and Max Biaggi’s Sterilgarda team (2).

27-years-old in January means Fenati has a maximum of two more seasons in Moto3.

* Rookie

Official Motegi MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Jorge Lorenzo SPA Yamaha 1m 43.790s (2015)
Fastest race lap:
Jorge Lorenzo SPA Yamaha 1m 45.350s (2014)

Jorge Martin leads a sunny morning warm-up for the Japanese MotoGP at Motegi.

With only one dry session (the lone Friday practice) heading into race day, choosing between the soft and medium rear tyre options was expected to be top of the priority list for most riders this morning.

However, hard rears also made an appearance, especially for the Ducatis, in response to the best weather of the weekend.

With eight bikes on the grid, it was probably not by accident that the Italian factory had some riders on each of the three tyre options this morning, Gresini’s Enea Bastianini and Fabio di Giannantonio putting laps on the soft rear.

Yamaha’s world championship leader Fabio Quartararo, who will start just 9th on the grid, set the early pace on a hard front and medium rear, with the Desmosedicis of Jack Miller (hard-hard), Jorge Martin (hard-medium) and Francesco Bagnaia (hard-hard) close behind.

Pramac’s Martin, fifth in qualifying, then moved ahead of Quartararo to finish 0.285s clear.

Factory Ducati team-mates, Miller and Bagnaia, a frustrated 12th in the wet on Saturday, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and Aragon winner Bastianini (just 15th on the grid) completing the top six.

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, who took his first pole position in three years during Saturday’s wet qualifying, but has been playing down his chances in the dry, fell on his final lap while trying the hard-hard tyres on his way to seventh.

The Spaniard’s fall was an exact replica of an accident for team-mate Pol Espargaro, at the same Turn 9, earlier in the session.

VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi was another late faller, at Turn 10.

Aleix Espargaro, who will head the title trio by starting sixth on the grid, stopped a few metres after leaving the Aprilia pits with some kind of issue with the front of his RS-GP.

The problem was soon corrected and the Spaniard went on to claim eighth ahead of Johann Zarco, who starts second this afternoon, and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.

KTM team-mate Brad Binder, who will start from his first MotoGP front row this afternoon, was 13th.

HRC wild-card Tetsuta Nagashima had a problem on his out lap.

Just 17 points cover Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro at the top of the MotoGP World Championship standings as the series head into the unknown with its first Asian and Australian races since 2019.

Quartararo’s opening lap accident with Marc Marquez at Aragon, combined with Bagnaia’s second place behind Enea Bastianini, has put the factory Ducati star just 10 points from the Monster Yamaha rider, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro also back in the hunt in third.

Home star Takaaki Nakagami has been passed fit to ride despite requiring surgery for injuries to his fingers in last Sunday’s clash with Marquez at Aragon.

The tight travel window to transport freight from Aragon to Motegi means a revised practice schedule in Japan, with a delayed and extended opening practice session running from 15:05-16:20 on Friday. Free Practice 2 is pushed over to Saturday morning with FP3 will be reduced to 30-minutes (replacing the usual FP4), followed by Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2.

The absence of Motegi from the calendar in both 2020 and 2021, due to Covid restrictions, means ten of the full-time riders have never raced at the circuit in the premier class: Brad Binder, Alex Marquez, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini, plus this year’s rookies Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio di Giannantonio, Darryn Binder, Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez.

Also on track this weekend will be Suzuki test rider Takuya Tsuda and Honda test rider Tetsuta Nagashima. Both have been entered as wild-cards in front of their home fans this weekend, although Tsuda will now technically be replacing the injured Joan Mir.

Following Andrea Dovizioso’s retirement, Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow will be starting his second weekend at RNF, where he will complete the season alongside Darryn Binder. Unlike most of the grid, Crutchlow has some private testing experience at Motegi this year.

Japanese MotoGP – Full race weekend schedule (UK time)

Friday September 23rd 

05:15 – 05:55am Moto3 FP1

06:10 – 06:50am Moto2 FP1

07:05 – 08:20 MotoGP FP1

Saturday September 24th

01:00 – 01:40 Moto3 FP2

01:55 – 02:35 Moto2 FP2

02:50 – 03:35 MotoGP FP2

04:35 – 04:50 Moto3 Q1

05:00 – 05:15 Moto3 Q2

05:30 – 05:45 Moto2 Q1

05:55 – 06:10 Moto2 Q2

06:25 – 06:55 MotoGP FP3

07:05 – 07:20 MotoGP Q1

07:30 – 07:45 MotoGP Q2

Sunday September 25th 

02:00 – 02:10 Moto3 Warm Up

02:20 – 02:30 Moto2 Warm Up

02:40 – 03:00 MotoGP Warm Up

04:00 Moto3 Race

05:20 Moto2 Race

07:00 MotoGP Race

local star Ayumu Sasaki leads a dry morning warm-up for the Moto3 class at Motegi in Japan.

Title leader Izan Guevara suffered a scary accident when he clipped the back of John McPhee on a straight.

Deniz Oncu was among the other fallers during the 10-minute session and suffered a possible hand injury.

Japanese MotoGP – Full race weekend schedule (UK time)

Friday September 23rd 

05:15 – 05:55am Moto3 FP1

06:10 – 06:50am Moto2 FP1

07:05 – 08:20 MotoGP FP1

Saturday September 24th

01:00 – 01:40 Moto3 FP2

01:55 – 02:35 Moto2 FP2

02:50 – 03:35 MotoGP FP2

04:35 – 04:50 Moto3 Q1

05:00 – 05:15 Moto3 Q2

05:30 – 05:45 Moto2 Q1

05:55 – 06:10 Moto2 Q2

06:25 – 06:55 MotoGP FP3

07:05 – 07:20 MotoGP Q1

07:30 – 07:45 MotoGP Q2

Sunday September 25th 

02:00 – 02:10 Moto3 Warm Up

02:20 – 02:30 Moto2 Warm Up

02:40 – 03:00 MotoGP Warm Up

04:00 Moto3 Race

05:20 Moto2 Race

07:00 MotoGP Race

Aron Canet tops Moto2 warm-up at Motegi, can he finally claim a first intermediate class victory this afternoon?

Japanese MotoGP – Full race weekend schedule (UK time)

Friday September 23rd 

05:15 – 05:55am Moto3 FP1

06:10 – 06:50am Moto2 FP1

07:05 – 08:20 MotoGP FP1

Saturday September 24th

01:00 – 01:40 Moto3 FP2

01:55 – 02:35 Moto2 FP2

02:50 – 03:35 MotoGP FP2

04:35 – 04:50 Moto3 Q1

05:00 – 05:15 Moto3 Q2

05:30 – 05:45 Moto2 Q1

05:55 – 06:10 Moto2 Q2

06:25 – 06:55 MotoGP FP3

07:05 – 07:20 MotoGP Q1

07:30 – 07:45 MotoGP Q2

Sunday September 25th 

02:00 – 02:10 Moto3 Warm Up

02:20 – 02:30 Moto2 Warm Up

02:40 – 03:00 MotoGP Warm Up

04:00 Moto3 Race

05:20 Moto2 Race

07:00 MotoGP Race

Title leader Izan Guevara holds off Dennis Foggia and Ayumu Sasaki to win the Japanese Moto3 Grand Prix at Motegi

Guevara, who failed to set a lap time in warm-up after tangling with John McPhee on a straight, charged from ninth to first on the opening lap but was soon under attack from home star Sasaki, with Foggia and later Jauma Masia soon lurking just behind.

Guevara attempted to break away from his pursuers with 4 laps to go, with Masia suffering a big highside from second as he tried to stay in touch.

Foggia’s Leopard team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki, who qualified on pole position, was among the other fallers.

Guevara’s world championship rival and team-mate Sergio Garcia was unable to make an impact on the podium places, leaving him 45-points behind with four rounds to go.

Japanese MotoGP – Full race weekend schedule (UK time)

Friday September 23rd 

05:15 – 05:55am Moto3 FP1

06:10 – 06:50am Moto2 FP1

07:05 – 08:20 MotoGP FP1

Saturday September 24th

01:00 – 01:40 Moto3 FP2

01:55 – 02:35 Moto2 FP2

02:50 – 03:35 MotoGP FP2

04:35 – 04:50 Moto3 Q1

05:00 – 05:15 Moto3 Q2

05:30 – 05:45 Moto2 Q1

05:55 – 06:10 Moto2 Q2

06:25 – 06:55 MotoGP FP3

07:05 – 07:20 MotoGP Q1

07:30 – 07:45 MotoGP Q2

Sunday September 25th 

02:00 – 02:10 Moto3 Warm Up

02:20 – 02:30 Moto2 Warm Up

02:40 – 03:00 MotoGP Warm Up

04:00 Moto3 Race

05:20 Moto2 Race

07:00 MotoGP Race

An emotional Ai Ogura declared his win ‘the best day of his life’ as he put in a ride full of fastest laps and overtakes to come through the pack and claim a memorable home win in the Moto3 Japanese Grand Prix, round sixteen of the championship.

The Idemitsu Honda team Asia rider had qualified down in 13th on the grid and a fiery start saw him up to third after one lap as pole man Canet lead the way.

Lap three saw Fermin Aldeguer exit from second, quickly followed by polesitter Aron Canet, who was leading when he pushed too hard to try for an early break.

That left Somkiat Chantra in control of the race, with Tony Arbolino and Alonso Lopez in the way of the #79’s dream win.

The Italian suggested a follow by tapping the back of his bike, but Ogura was soon past. A tough move and block on Lopez saw Ogura in charge and free to make and maintain a gap out front.

Crossing the line 1.192s ahead the Japanese rider was willed over the line by his team, including boss Hiroshi Aoyama, who was the last Japanese rider to win at home, back in 2006. It is Ogura’s third win of the season, keeping the Moto2 title in his sights.

Augusto Fernandez left it all on track to battle back from eleventh on the grid to push Ogura over the closing laps and retain a small championship advantage. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider put in a flurry of fastest laps, but Ogura responded, leaving the Spaniard second.

Lopez announced himself in the race when he hit the front on lap seven. Though he couldn’t stay ahead in the race he did hold on to third, only just ahead of Jake Dixon at the chequered flag for CAG Speed Up.

By contrast to the podium finishers who all made early gains, Dixon knew he would struggle to keep up and dropped back from his front row start to be back in eighth at the end of lap one.

Keeping his cool and knowing crashes ahead were very much on the cards after the Moto3 result, the British rider put in a patient performance, allowing him to almost stage a podium return, finishing fourth, but only just for Shimoko GasGas Aspar.

Chantra lead briefly, after his early strong start, followed by him sitting up on the bike initially gapped the pack. His hard tyre gamble didn’t pay off, causing him to run wide and lose ground on several occasions. The Idemitsu Honda Team Asia rider brought the bike in in fifth, completing a strong home grand prix for the team.

Early contender Arbolino finished sixth for Elf Marc VDS, their only rider after Sam Lowes was withdrawn following his qualifying day crash.

Pedro Acosta, much like Dixon, let the race come to him, moving up to seventh by the chequered flag , a mixture of overtakes and gains from falls ahead allowing the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider to be able to make his way forward through the field.

Albert Arenas was a distant eighth on the second GasGas entry, with a further wait for ninth placed Bo Bendsneyder to reach the finish line for the Pertamina Mandalkia SAG Team. Filip Salac was almost three seconds behind him in a gapped section of the chasing group to complete the top ten for Gresini.

American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier got a huge start, catapulting him up towards the leaders before fading back to an eventual eleventh. Compatriot Joe Roberts found a way forward to take twelfth for Italtrans.

The riders were close in the run to the line but  Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) couldn’t find a way past for 13th. The remaining points on offer went to Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP) in 14th and Lorenzo Dalla Porta in 15th for Italtrans.

 

Crashes and Penalties.

 

No in race penalties were applied as those receiving a track limits warning exercised caution.

Like Moto3, there were plenty of crashes over the duration.

Manuel Gonzalez was declared fit after his earlier crash, but was first to exit.

Aldeguer lasted two laps longer, with Alessandro Zaccone not lasting much longer. At the same time Simone Corsi retired to the pits.

The next two crashes were crucial with Celestino Viettu’s spill all but ending his slim title dreams, with Canet next out and in the same situation after throwing away the lead in the race.

Niccolo Antonelli, Jorge Navarro and Jeremy Alcoba all also failed to finish.

 

Where does that leave the championship?

 

Augusto Fernandez pushing for second ensures he holds the lead in the title hunt, on 234 points he is just two ahead of Ai Ogura after his win cut into the difference,

Behind them Canet is a distant third on 177 points , 57 behind Fernandez and his early success means Vietti is still fourth despite his poor run of form. He is 72 points adrift.

^X Rider has improved X championship positions.
= Rider has the same championship position as previous race.
˅X Rider has dropped X championship positions.

* Rookie

Fabio Quartararo takes an 18-point world championship lead over Francesco Bagnaia into the final four rounds of the season after the Italian’s last-lap accident in the Japanese MotoGP at Motegi.

Aleix Espargaro is now 25 adrift after being forced to start from pit lane.

Due to line-up sixth on the grid, the Aprilia rider instead dived into pit lane at the end of the warm-up lap, ditching his RS-GP and frantically grabbing the spare bike.

Espargaro later revealed that his number one machine had been stuck in a special fuel-saving ‘eco’ map, designed only to be used from the pits to the grid.

“They made a mistake, and they didn’t remove the fuel-saving map which doesn’t allow you to go over 4-5,000 RPM or more than 100k per hour,” Espargaro explained.

“I tried everything, but it was not working.”

After the unplanned bike swap, Espargaro joined the race 25th and last but already knew his chances were over.

“I changed bikes in the pits, but the second bike had the soft rear tyre [instead of the medium] and I can’t ride with that tyre,” he said.

“I knew it from the beginning. The bike was just pushing the front. I was also very nervous and making a lot of mistakes, so I decided to stay out on track just to wait for a red flag or whatever. But it didn’t arrive.”

Espargaro eventually crossed the line in 16th place, five-seconds from Cal Crutchlow and the final world championship point.

It was a far cry from what he felt was possible:

“[To] win, 100%. Even with a soft tyre and the second bike I was in ’46.0 for many laps.

“So with the medium tyre and my number one bike I’m sure I could stay in 45-half, at least at the level of Jack [Miller, race winner]. So it’s a shame.”

Quartararo eighth, Bagnaia crash ‘makes it worse’

Espargaro also took no consolation from the fact that world championship leader Fabio Quartararo could only manage eighth place on Sunday, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed out trying to pass the Frenchman on the last lap.

“For me, this is worse, because I lost a big opportunity. If they finished first and second, it would be worse for the championship, but I will not be that sad,” Espargaro said.

“I’m very sad because I knew today I was faster than them and it’s very difficult to be faster than Pecco and Fabio. It’s very rare, for me.”

Espargaro has now dropped from 17 to 25 points behind Quartararo and remains 7 from Bagnaia.

Espargaro: ‘A huge mistake, but we are humans’

Espargaro knows as well as anyone that human errors can happen, having backed off with one lap still to go in Barcelona earlier this season.

“This is our job and it’s a mistake that can happen everywhere,” he said of the Eco map issue. “It’s a big mistake, a huge mistake. But we are humans, we are a team.

“Now I will go to the box, I have no strength, I don’t know how to do it, but I need to support [the team] because it’s a mistake and it can happen.

“I don’t care about the championship, I want to win in Thailand. It’s the only thing on my mind, try to win in Thailand.”

Free Practice for the Thai Grand Prix, the first of four remaining rounds, starts on Friday.

TEspargaro’s team-mate Maverick Vinales finished seventh at Motegi.

But he rode a pain-free race for the first time since his 2020 arm fracture, allowing the Repsol Honda star to go on the attack in the closing laps.

Overtaking Miguel Oliveira for fourth place also meant Marquez matched his best result of the season, in what was his first full race since undergoing bone realignment surgery in June.

“I’m really happy because it was a solid race, but the most important thing is that I didn’t feel pain during the whole race,” Marquez said.

“I felt like the arm was lazy. I felt tired in the end, but I didn’t feel pain and for me that is the most important.

“For that reason I was also able to attack Oliveira. It was long time ago since I had the feeling to attack somebody in the last laps, because [always] the pain was there and it was difficult to even keep concentration in the past.

“But today I didn’t feel pain, I just felt tired, but everything was under control.”

The #93 added: “For a single lap time attack, I’m not far from riding like I want [with the arm]. But to make a constant pace and control the moments you don’t expect – shaking on the brakes, or change of directions – still there I can improve.

“But it’s only the second race [since the latest operation].”

A switch from the hard to soft rear tyre on the grid suggested Marquez would make a strong early push.

However, a mapping issue dropped the eight time world champion to fifth on lap 1, where he remained until passing Oliveira.

“The only unlucky point in the race was I put the soft rear tyre to attack in the beginning, but I had a small problem in the first lap, lost a lot of time and many riders overtook me,” Marquez confirmed.

“Then the lucky thing is that I changed the map and that problem disappeared. It was a very small problem, but when you are in a big group it affects things a lot. But from that point my race began and I’m happy.”

Marquez: ‘Normal weekend will be 7th-9th’

Despite the boost in confidence from his pain-free right arm, Marquez knows the character of the Motegi circuit plus weather interrupted practice helped mask the technical deficiencies of the RCV.

“This is two [different] things: Arm level, bike level,” said Marquez, who was 7.7s behind race winner Jack Miller and set the seventh fastest lap of the race. “The arm situation we know with more kilometres will be better and the bike we need to improve.

“It’s true that it was a good weekend. But it’s also true that the rain on Saturday helped me a lot to keep fresh [save energy] and to start from pole position.

“We need to also keep calm because this circuit affected the weak points of our bike less.

“For that reason I was able to be fast from FP1, even though I rode with exactly the same bike, more or less, as Aragon, but here we were closer to the others.

“So I’m always honest and in a normal weekend, I believe that will be 7th-8th-9th position. Not 4th.”

Marquez was given a warning of the work still to be done when he crashed in warm-up.

“It’s one of the points where I’m struggling more this year. Always when I had those [front] moments, lockings in the past and I got used to ride the Honda like this. But this morning, I was not overriding and just looks like [you go down].

“In Aragon I had a similar crash in the same point, same angle. So it’s there where I don’t have information..

“I had a good feeling in that left corner and when you have good feeling you push more. So lucky I crashed in the warm-up because if not it was a high possibility to crash [there[ in the race!”

Team-mate Pol Espargaro was the next best Honda rider, in twelfth.