Marquez beats Martin to win Japanese Grand Prix sprint & close in on championship lead

[p]Marquez made a scorching start and ‌held the inside line on the first turn of the opening lap to ‌surge past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/martin-jorge/zBBka6dR/"]Martin[/a], who had set a lap ‌record at the Motegi circuit earlier on Saturday to grab pole ‌position.[/p][p]Reigning champion Marquez maintained his lead and coasted to ‌victory, moving him to 306 points - seven behind Martin (313), ahead of Sunday's race.[/p][p][b]"The target was front row in the qualifying. Starting on first ‌or second was the best place to ⁠do a great sprint race,"[/b] ‌seven-times world champion Marquez said.[/p][p]"We did a small modification for the ​sprint race, and I felt much better on the bike."[/p][embed guid="f7b821dd-4edc-4af4-bf6a-1852e9d7b367" url="https://x.com/MotoGP/status/2106274589840117889" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aprilia-jcm-confort/MTXPphgH/"]Aprilia[/a]'s Martin finished second, but was demoted to ​third behind LCR Honda's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/moreira-diogo/jgqvgUFi/"]Diogo Moreira[/a].[/p][p]The Spaniard had found it hard going towards the end of the sprint as he ⁠was put under ​pressure by Tech3's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bastianini-enea/ht1WUmo9/"]Enea Bastianini[/a], with the thrilling duel leading both riders to stray outside the track.[/p][p][b]"I tried in the last lap to do everything I could to keep Enea behind. ‌I achieved that,"[/b] Martin said.[/p][p]"I don't know exactly where I touched (the outside), because I was really focused on not doing it. So, big mistake."[/p][embed guid="6daa0484-957c-4acf-83f9-84080d345c0d" url="https://x.com/MotoGP/status/2106278853739983158" social-type="twitter" /][p]Brazilian Moreira earned his first sprint podium. It was also the first sprint podium for satellite team LCR since 2023.[/p][p][b]"Today was the day. We saw the crash and I said, 'OK, today I will try to push to see'. At the end, lap by lap, I was ‌feeling more comfortable with the bike,"[/b] the 22-year-old said.[/p][p]KTM's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/acosta-pedro/KrGeaHq5/"]Pedro ​Acosta[/a], fresh off the first MotoGP victory of his ‌career, started in the front row but quickly found himself in the gravel after being involved in a three-rider crash along with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marquez-alex/6uLgHlWF/"]Alex Marquez[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/di-giannantonio-fabio/pI4o388M/"]Fabio Di Giannantonio[/a].[/p][p]Japan's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ogura-ai/A3AtM47b/"]Ai Ogura[/a] (Trackhouse) finished fifth, ahead of Martin's Aprilia teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bezzecchi-marco/EXzAZEse/"]⁠Marco Bezzecchi[/a], whose outside ⁠bid for the championship ‌was dealt another blow.[/p]