2025 Japanese MotoGP Review: Marquez Crowned at Motegi
Motegi, September 2025. Pecco Bagnaia finally remembered how to ride a Ducati, Joan Mir got Honda on a home podium, and Marc Marquez finished second and cried his eyes out. Six years, four operations and one broken arm after his last title, the 93 was champion again. If you missed it, here’s how the weekend went.
The set-up: match point in Japan
Marquez rolled into Motegi 182 points clear of his brother Alex with five rounds to go. The maths was simple. Bank a decent sprint on Saturday, keep it upright on Sunday, and the job was done. He’d won 11 grands prix and 14 sprints already that season on the factory Ducati. Nobody was betting against him. The only real question was whether he’d do it with a win or play it safe.
Saturday: Bagnaia turns up
The sprint was the surprise of the weekend, and not because of Marquez. Pecco Bagnaia had spent most of 2025 looking lost on the GP25, going without a sprint podium since Mugello. At Motegi he stuck it on pole, led every lap and won the 12-lapper by 1.8 seconds. Vintage stuff.
Marquez had to work for second. He dropped to fourth early, spent half the race stuck behind his old Honda team-mate Mir, then picked off Mir and Pedro Acosta in the closing laps. Nine points in the bag. Alex Marquez could only manage tenth, which meant Marc could give away six points on Sunday and still be champion.
Sunday: the coronation
Bagnaia did the same again. Pole, lights to flag, never headed. Marquez started third, sat behind Acosta’s KTM for ten laps, then made the pass on lap 11 and set off after his team-mate. By then Pecco was three seconds up the road.
The only drama came late on when Bagnaia’s Desmosedici started puffing smoke out the back. He didn’t seem to notice. Marquez closed the gap to two seconds, had a look at the pit board, remembered what was actually at stake and rolled off. He crossed the line 4.2 seconds back in second, which was all he needed.
Behind them, Mir brought the Honda home third for his first podium since 2021 and Honda’s first at their own circuit in years. Marco Bezzecchi came through to fourth ahead of Franco Morbidelli. Acosta faded badly after his early charge and ended up in the gravel. Alex Marquez finished sixth and was one of the first to hug his brother in parc ferme.
Why it mattered
Seven premier class titles puts Marquez level with Valentino Rossi and one behind Giacomo Agostini. Nine world championships in total. He’s the first rider to win the top class title six years after his previous one, and he did it on a Ducati after Honda spent four years unable to give him a bike that worked.
The bit that gets you, though, isn’t the numbers. It’s the arm. Jerez 2020, one crash, four surgeries, a bone that healed wrong and had to be rebroken, a year where he couldn’t lift a kettle. Plenty of riders would have packed it in. He went to Gresini on a year-old bike, proved he still had it, got the factory seat and then ran away with the championship. As comebacks go, it’s up there with anything in any sport.
British interest
Jake Dixon gave the UK something to shout about in Moto2, taking second on the Boscoscuro behind Daniel Holgado. Not a bad Sunday for a rider who’d been through the wringer that season.
What next
Marquez went into the last five rounds with nothing to prove, and Bagnaia looked like a man who’d found his mojo again just in time to fight for second. Whether Motegi was a genuine turnaround for Pecco or a one-off at a track he’s always loved is the kind of argument that keeps the cafe busy.
The 2026 Japanese GP is coming up soon. We’ve put everything you need to know, including the schedule and how to watch, in our 2026 Japanese MotoGP preview.
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