The MotoGP World Championship arrives in Japan for the first round of its long Asian tour, with the Motegi circuit ready to welcome MotoGP back after the summer break. It promises to be a busy weekend, with all free practice sessions broadcast live and exclusively on Sky’s pay-TV channel, whilst qualifying and the Sprint Race will also be shown free-to-air on TV8, ensuring extensive coverage for Italian fans. The situation is different for Sunday’s races, both in the premier class and the other categories, which will be broadcast on a delayed basis on the free-to-air channel, whilst they will still be available live for Sky subscribers and those using the Now streaming platform.
The Motegi circuit is one that always demands great concentration from the riders due to its technical characteristics, and which has already provided some interesting moments and a few too many thrills during pre-qualifying. Marco Morelli set the pace on the flying lap, finishing ahead of Yamanaka and Uriarte in the session that officially kicks off the Japanese weekend and determines who progresses directly to Q2, thereby avoiding the more treacherous Q1.
The session, however, was also marked by a high number of crashes: as many as ten riders ended up on the ground, a clear sign of the difficulties in adapting to the track and the challenging conditions faced during practice. Among them was Quiles, who, despite the crash, still managed to finish in sixth place, demonstrating a good ability to bounce back despite the setback.
There was also good news for the Italian contingent: Bertelle secured a direct pass to Q2, confirming his good feel for the Japanese track and making his mark right from the start of the weekend. Pini, on the other hand, was less fortunate, failing to make the top ten in pre-qualifying and will therefore have to go through Q1 to try and secure a place in the final stages of qualifying.
The picture emerging from this first day is that of a challenging circuit, capable of causing difficulties even for the most experienced riders, with an extremely high level of competitiveness that promises to make for a thrilling rest of the weekend. It now remains to be seen how the situation will develop in the coming sessions, with the actual qualifying sessions set to determine the starting grid for both the Sprint and Sunday’s race.
Italian fans’ eyes will be fixed not only on MotoGP, but also on these lower categories, where our riders are striving to carve out a leading role in an increasingly international and competitive championship. The Motegi round therefore promises to be full of excitement, with on-track battles and television strategies designed to ensure every moment of the Asian action is covered to the full.
Written by Fabio Averna
Article produced by the AiSportNews newsroom with the support of artificial intelligence tools.