Rennie Scaysbrook | September 23, 2022
2022 Japanese MotoGP News—Friday
No Ducati team orders—for now
The expressions on Ducati bosses soon after Enea Bastianini won the Aragon MotoGP thanks to a last lap pass on principle challenger Pecco Bagnaia, conveyed their disappointment at who had won.
Further video evidence showed Ducati Team Manager Davide Tardozzi coming to the Gresini garage later, offering the race winner a simple hug – nothing more – before saying, “You’ll get your knuckles rapped later,” half-jokingly.
They joke now, but things are getting very serious between Bagnaia (left) and Bastianini.
Clearly, they felt ‘The Beast’ should have avoided any such risk. And both Italians were justifiably questioned whether factory orders will come into play this weekend. Surprisingly, both said they hadn’t.
“Also in Misano, I haven’t had any team orders from Ducati at the moment, and this is good because I also have a small chance at the Championship,” said Bastianini. “In the last part of the Championship, we will see if I have some team orders or not. I’m not stressed now!”
Bagnaia then went on to say he didn’t need team orders to win this year’s title, a comment that could very well make him look a fool come November.
“Sincerely, I don’t think that I need some help to be in front,” he said. “I prefer to win on track and not because of someone letting me pass. But in any case, I’m not inside of this decision and for sure I said my desire [to Ducati] which is to let me do what I want to do.”
Fire disaster averted
A full-blown disaster was narrowly avoided on Thursday evening when the Marc VDS garage went up in smoke as teams were filing out of the track and back to their hotels. During a heavy rain shower, water seeped through the roof and onto a starter motor, which then short-circuited, causing the start of an electric fire.
Lowes was lucky he still had a bike to ride in Japan after the fire.
Aprilia, whose garage was stationed next door, sounded the alarm. Track security and the local fire service soon put out the blaze and salvaged the equipment inside, including the bikes and spare parts. Suzuki’s MotoGP team, also positioned next door, then helped the clean up and rebuild.
Marc VDS Moto2 rider Sam Lowes said, “We have to say thanks to Suzuki. Without them, stopping the fire early would’ve been difficult. In the end there wasn’t big damage. Both bikes were OK. Another team came and helped us and after they helped with the cleaning. This is what makes you proud of MotoGP. You don’t even know some of the other people and they did a big job to help us when they didn’t need to.”
It begs the question: what would have happened if the fire broke out late at night, when all other teams had gone home?
Quartararo’s zipper fail explained
Aside from clattering into the back of Marc Marquez and suffering his second DNF of the year, Fabio Quartararo’s Aragon GP was notable for another reason. The Frenchman’s leathers came undone in the fall, opened and left him sliding across asphalt on the outside of the track with his chest exposed.
Quartararo rolls back to the pits after his scary Aragon crash.
The 23-year-old had multiple abrasions on his abdomen, thankfully none of them deep or serious. After further investigation, leather manufacturer Alpinestars found Quartararo’s airbag had deployed correctly. Yet as he fell back first onto the asphalt, his chest was struck with some force by the front wheel of his bike. As the leathers were already stretched by the contact with the asphalt, the zipper was stressed to levels the Italian company had never previously seen.
Quartararo said the injuries weren’t affecting him on the bike on day one at Motegi. “It was a little bit strange in the beginning because it burns a little bit, but after the first few laps you adapt and is nothing. So it don’t affect my riding,” he said.
friday
MotoGP
Jack Miller has set the pace in a Ducati Lenovo Team one-two in an extended opening practice session for the MotoGP field at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan. The Australian set a 1:44.509 during his late time attack run at Mobility Resort Motegi to finish FP1 0.028 seconds ahead of teammate Francesco Bagnaia, the form rider in the World Championship. However, the man who still leads the title race, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took third and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), a close third in the points, earned fourth on the opening day in Japan. Aragon GP winner Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP), on the other hand, was just 14th-fastest after a late crash.
Jack Miller used the soft tire perfectly to take P1 on Friday.
2022 Japanese MotoGP Results—Friday
| 1 | Jack Miller | (duc) | 1:44.509 |
| 2 | Francesco Bagnaia | (duc) | + 0.028 |
| 3 | Fabio Quartararo | (yam) | + 0.049 |
| 4 | Alex Espargaro | (April) | + 0.068 |
| 5 | Luca Marini | (duc) | + 0.136 |
| 6 | Marc Marquez | (Hon) | + 0.147 |
| 7 | Pol Espargaro | (Hon) | + 0.169 |
| 8th | Brad Binder | (KTM) | + 0.226 |
| 9 | Miguel Oliveira | (KTM) | + 0.234 |
| 10 | Maverick Vinales | (April) | + 0.288 |
Moto2
Moto2 World Championship leader Augusto Fernandez has got his Motul Grand Prix of Japan weekend off to the right start with the fastest lap in FP1. Amid light showers at the Mobility Resort Motegi, Fernandez set a 1:50.493 to finish 0.084 seconds ahead of Somkiat Chantra. Just as first and second was Red Bull KTM Ajo and Idemitsu Honda team Asia respectively, so was third and fourth in the form of Pedro Acosta and Ai Ogura, the latter of whom is a close second in the title race as he starts his home event .
Fernandez hit back to tale P1 in Moto2 on Friday.
2022 Japanese Moto2 Results—Friday
| 1 | Augusto Fernández | (cal) | 1:50,493 |
| 2 | Somkiat Chantra | (cal) | + 0.084 |
| 3 | Pedro Acosta | (cal) | + 0.290 |
| 4 | Ai Ogura | (cal) | + 0.392 |
| 5 | Philip Salac | (cal) | + 0.474 |
| 15 | JoeRoberts | (cal) | + 1,062 |
| 20 | Cameron Beaubier | (cal) | + 1,983 |
| 30 | Sean Dylan Kelly | (cal) | + 4,692 |
Moto3
MT Helmets – MSI’s Diogo Moreira has set the pace in FP1 for Round 16 of the Moto3 World Championship, the Motul Grand Prix of Japan. Moreira went as quick as a 1:57.252 in the first, 40-minute session around the Mobility Resort Motegi, finishing ahead of Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia and one of the Japanese riders in the field, Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max’s Ayumu Sasaki. World Championship leader Izan Guevara sits inside the top 14 cut-off for Q2 as it stands, but fellow Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team rider – and title rival – Sergio Garcia went 17th-quickest in FP1 and will be hoping for dry conditions on Saturday morning.
Diogo Moreira headed Foggia in Moto3.
2022 Japanese Moto3 Results—Friday
| 1 | Diogo Moreira | (KTM) | 1:57.252 |
| 2 | Dennis Foggia | (Hon) | + 0.195 |
| 3 | Ayumu Sasaki | (hus) | + 0.241 |
| 4 | David Munoz | (KTM) | + 0.313 |
| 5 | John McPhee | (hus) | + 0.333 |
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