Overview

• Marquez enters the Japanese Grand Prix on 512 points and secures the championship if he outscores his brother Alex by three points over the weekend.
• He has 11 grand prix wins and 14 sprint victories this season, already setting a single‑season points record after 16 rounds.
• Framing Motegi as part of a five-year recovery, Marquez described this as his “second life” in MotoGP and said the goal is to “close the circle.”
• Ducati signalled a renewed development push as team manager Davide Tardozzi said Gigi Dall’Igna is “starting to think again” with Aprilia and KTM narrowing the gap.
• Francesco Bagnaia conceded he “threw away” his season amid setup woes and will try Misano test solutions at Motegi, while Alex Marquez was confirmed to receive a factory-spec GP26 in 2026 and expects “double the work” in testing.