Jorge Martin described his relentless defence of the lead in the Thai Grand Prix as “one of my best races” as he closed further on the MotoGP points lead.

The Pramac Ducati rider held the lead from pole off the start, though found himself under constant pressure from KTM’s Brad Binder, and later title rival Francesco Bagnaia, across the entirety of the 26-lap contest.

Binder in particular looked to have more rear grip in the latter stages at the Chang International Circuit, though he struggled to find a way past Martin as he continually nailed every braking zone in his defence of a fourth win of the season.

Binder eventually found a way through with just four laps remaining, though Martin remained close and managed to find a way back through with a bold move at Turn 2 on the penultimate lap – the Spaniard ultimately hanging on by just 0.114s to sweep the Thai weekend.  

Reducing his points deficit against Bagnaia to just 13 with three weekends remaining in 2023, Martin felt his Thai run was one of the “best races of my life” bearing in mind how “mentally difficult” it was to keep both Binder and his main title rival behind for so long.

“That was one of the best races of my life, that’s for sure,” explained Martin.

“When they caught me in the last part of the race I think they were a bit faster than me, I managed the tyre a lot but they were a bit stronger.

“Leading for 20 laps and having a tenth (of a second) advantage was really mentally difficult, but I was able to keep concentrated to the end and could win.

“I could hear his engine a lot out of Turn 7 so I knew he was going to try there, and I was a bit on the limit with the tyre there so I thought he had more grip than me.

“But as soon as he overtook me and in front I could see he was also on the limit with rear grip, so I tried to keep the distance for a lap and then take him back because I didn’t want my front tyre to get hot.”

Martin added that he was “relieved” to hang onto his potentially crucial fourth win of the year as he looks to secure a maiden premier class crown, and insisted that the mistakes which cost him wins in Indonesia and Australia have made him “stronger.”

“I was relieved to finish at the top because I’ve had a lot of mistakes recently, I didn’t even enjoy the win yesterday because I was so focussed on today. I haven’t slept for four days, but tonight I’ll sleep well,” continued Martin.

“I’m happy because the target was to recover points and we did it. To break the lap record, get pole position and then win both races is great. I can’t lie I’m starting to feel the pressure, but the main target is to recover points and we are achieving this.

“I think the mistakes from the other races were tough for me, but they made me stronger.”

Jorge Martin secured a potentially crucial Thai MotoGP victory after coming out on top of a breathless battle with Brad Binder and Francesco Bagnaia for supremacy.

The Pramac Ducati rider managed to hold the lead after suffering another poor start as he had in the Saturday sprint encounter, VR46’s Luca Marini again unable to make the Spaniard pay for a sluggish getaway.

From then on Martin instigated a slower pace to try and preserve his hard rear tyre, while Binder focussed on scything back through the pack having dropped as far back as fifth early on. By the time half-race distance had been completed, the KTM man was fixed to the rear of Martin’s machine.

Martin eventually began to try and escape from the rest as the race entered its final third, though Binder and title rival Bagnaia followed him every step of the way as they looked to steal away the leadership.

As the race entered its final laps, Martin seemingly began to struggle for grip and looked to be a sitting duck for the pressuring Binder.

Sure enough, after several laps of moving every which way to find an opening, Binder fired down the inside of Martin at Turn 9 to take the lead. The South African failed to pull clear of Martin though, the Saturday sprint victor remaining close enough for a possible lunge even despite his defending from Bagnaia.

Martin managed to get a run at Binder on the penultimate lap and dived back through to the lead at Turn 2, though Binder – keen to secure his first win in over two years – continued to push him as the final lap began.

He exacted as much pressure as he could on a defensive Martin, though he ultimately came up short as the leader struck back at every blow Binder could throw at him to take the chequered flag just 0.114s clear.

Binder’s day would get worse just moments later though as he was demoted to third after the flag for touching the green on the last lap, gifting Bagnaia second and a crucial four points for the championship. This sees Bagnaia head into the Malaysian GP weekend just 13 points clear of Martin.

Marco Bezzecchi looked after his rubber well to come through to fourth in the end on his VR46 Ducati machine, while Aleix Espargaro completed the top five for Aprilia having tussled for the lead in the early tours.

Fabio Quartararo claimed sixth for Yamaha having made progress late on, with Honda’s Marc Marquez securing a battling seventh ahead of Marini, who faded in the latter stages with rear grip woes.

Fabio Di Gianantonio fought back to bag a fourth-successive top ten result in ninth for Gresini, while Johann Zarco struggled in the heat of Thailand to complete the top ten on the sister Pramac entry.

Franco Morbidelli recovered well from 18^th on the grid to secure 11^th ahead of Joan Mir, while Enea Bastianini was 13^th on his factory Ducati ahead of the final two points scorers of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagmai and RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez.

It was a tough day for the three remaining KTM RC16 bikes in the field, as all failed to make the points positions.

Jack Miller led the trio home in 16^th, with GasGas pair Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro rounding off the 18 men that reached the chequered flag.

Maverick Vinales and Miguel Oliveira both had to retire their Aprilia’s with mechanical problems, while Alex Marquez crashed his Gresini Ducati from third at mid-distance after losing the front mid-corner.

Jorge Martin dominated proceedings in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race to secure his fifth successive short MotoGP race win, while Francesco Bagnaia struggled to seventh.  

The Pramac Ducati rider didn’t get the cleanest getaway from pole and was challenged into the first bend by VR46’s Luca Marini, though the Spaniard was having none of it and boldly swept around the outside to hold the leadership.

From then on Martin put in his usual sprint masterclass by building up a lead in the early stages to enjoy an advantage of over a second just prior to mid-distance, before then managing things across the closing tours.

Having established himself as somewhat of a Saturday expert, Martin eventually took the chequered flag just under a second clear of KTM’s Brad Binder to secure his fifth-straight sprint victory. His success also moves to just 18 points adrift of the series lead, after Bagnaia could manage only seventh.

Binder meanwhile spent most of the race staring at the back of Marini, who was struggling to hang onto Martin’s coattails. Bin tried and tried over the opening half of the encounter before finally finding a way past the Italian with an assured move at the final bend.

From then on he kept a narrow but consistent gap behind to claim the runners-up result, while Marini came home to complete the rostrum.

The battle for fourth between Aleix Espargaro and Marc Marquez came right down to the wire meanwhile. Espargaro looked to have the spot sewn up with a lap to go as he chased down the podium men, though a mistake at the start of the final lap dropped him back behind Marquez.

The Aprilia man dived through on the Honda pilot at Turn 7 in his attempt to regain the spot, though Marquez wouldn’t go down without a fight. He subsequently fired his RC213V to the inside of Espargaro at the final corner, the six-time premier class champion achieving just enough drive on the exit to cross the line fourth.

Marco Bezzecchi was sixth having struggled for energy in the latter stages with his collarbone injury, the VR46 man dropping behind Marquez before coming under pressure from a resurgent Bagnaia. The factory Ducati man was unable to do anything about his countryman though, and followed him home in seventh.

Bagnaia had dropped as low as ninth early on after making a poor start from sixth, and from thereon struggled to make much impact on the men ahead. An opportunistic move to claim seventh after the battling Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco ran wide was the only time he managed to clear another machine all race.

Gresini’s Alex Marquez ended up eighth, while Australian GP victor Johann Zarco claimed the final point for ninth ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller, who did well to move forward from 15^th on the grid.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was the Aussie’s final victim in the closing laps as he was forced to make do with 11^th just ahead of Honda’s Joan Mir.

The other Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli struggled to move forward and ended up 15^th ahead of GasGas’ Pol Espargaro and RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira.

Maverick Vinales had a tough afternoon as he failed to recover from 18^th following a shocking start, the Aprilia racer’s woes compounded by a late long-lap penalty for a track limits infringement.

LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was the final classified finisher in 19^th having remounted from a crash at Turn 12 early on, while Fabio Di Gianantonio and Augusto Fernandez also failed to make the end. Phillip Island podium finisher Di Gianantonio was forced to retire with a technical problem on his Ducati, while Fernandez binned his GasGas KTM RC16 at the final bend.

Jorge Martin put himself in the perfect position to eat into Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP points lead in Thailand as he streaked to pole position with his chief rival only sixth.  

The Pramac Ducati rider looked bang on the pace from the outset of the pole shootout as he led the way in the opening runs with a new lap record of the Chang International Circuit of 1:29.491s to put himself just under two-tenths-of-a-second clear of VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi.

Bagnaia meanwhile ended up sixth and just under eight-tenths adrift of Martin, the series leader struggling once more to match the provisional pole-man over a single lap.

Martin wasn’t home and dry yet though as Bezzecchi managed to squeak ahead of him with his final gambit of the session by just 0.008s, though he immediately posted a session-best indicator on his final tour.

He continued to find lap time across this circulation to eventually cross the line 0.196s faster than the Italian.

His 1:29.287s effort ultimately proved sufficient for Martin to score his fourth premier class pole of the year ahead of Luca Marini, who managed to slide up to second at the death just ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Bezzecchi was therefore shuffled back to the head of the second row in fourth, the VR46 man just clear of KTM’s Brad Binder.

Bagnaia also improved towards the end of Q2, but his best attempt left him sixth and around a quarter-of-a-second down on Martin’s benchmark.

Alex Marquez managed to escape Q1 and qualify seventh for Gresini Ducati ahead of brother Marc Marquez, the Honda man having joined his younger sibling in progressing from the opening qualifying segment.

Maverick Vinales could manage only ninth on the sister factory Aprilia, while Fabio Quartararo was pushed back to tenth in the final reckoning having sat within the top five following the opening set of runs.

Australian GP winner Johann Zarco will start 11^th for Pramac, while Augusto Fernandez completed the Q2 combatants in 12^th.   

Fabio Di Gianantonio meanwhile saw his recent Q2 streak broken by team-mate Alex Marquez by a narrow margin, forcing the Italian to start 13^th just ahead of RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez.

Jack Miller struggled to string together a decent lap and therefore could secure just 15^th on the grid ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.

Franco Morbidelli struggled to replicate his Friday form on the other Yamaha en route to a lowly 18^th, while Joan Mir ended up 19^th on his factory Honda.

Defending Thai GP victor Miguel Oliveira was left with work to do from 20^th for the sprint and grand prix encounters, the Portuguese pilot lapping faster than only Enea Bastianini’s factory Ducati in 21^st.

Jorge Martin swept the practice sessions on Friday at the Chang International Circuit to lead the way into the pole shootout, while title rival Francesco Bagnaia was seventh.

The Pramac Ducati pilot continued his recent scintillating form as the MotoGP circus arrived in Thailand as he led the way in FP1 by a narrow margin over Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, while Bagnaia lapped nearly a second adrift in tenth.

Martin continued to look the faster of the two Ducati riders on Friday afternoon as he continually found himself within the top five in the 60-minute session, although Alex Marquez led the way early on with a time a couple-tenths-of-a-second adrift of Martin’s FP1 effort.

Brad Binder was the first rider to dip below Martin’s morning benchmark of 1:30.520s, the KTM man banging in a 1:30.247s as the session raced towards its conclusion.

Vinales would then move back to the fore as he lapped underneath the 1:30 bracket for the first time, though Martin would get the last laugh. His 1:29.826s posted just moments later would ultimately be enough to keep him up top as the session ended, his chances improved due to a yellow flag he caused.

Keen to further extend his advantage out front, Martin kept pushing on his follow-up tour. He asked a little too much of his Ducati into the heavy braking zone of Turn 3 though and lost the front, sliding off into the gravel. The resulting yellow flags meant that most behind would end up losing their final attempts.

Vinales would thus finish up second, the Spaniard 0.098s away from Martin and only 0.062s clear of team-mate Aleix Espargaro in third.

Australian GP victor Johann Zarco ended the day fourth overall on the other Pramac entry, while Luca Marini rounded off the top five on his VR46-run Ducati.

The Italian’s team-mate Marco Bezzecchi was up next in sixth just ahead of Bagnaia, who managed to find a decent time improvement in the latter stages to end the day just 0.243s down on his championship rival.

Fabio Quartararo enjoyed an encouraging day to end up just two-and-a-half tenths away from the ultimate pace, while KTM’s Binder and GasGas’ Augusto Fernandez completed a top ten covered by just 0.304s.

Marc Marquez was the first man to miss out on an automatic Q2 berth, the Honda pilot lapping half-a-tenth away from Fernandez to end off the day 11^th just ahead of the other Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli.

Jack Miller was 13^th for KTM ahead of recent form-man Fabio Di Gianantonio. FP2 saw the field spread across a very narrow margin, with 18th-placed Alex Marquez just 0.541s away from Martin’s benchmark.

Jorge Martin decimated the MotoGP field at Phillip Island to secure his third pole of the season by 0.416s, while title rival Francesco Bagnaia escaped Q1 en route to third.

Martin came out all guns blazing from the outset of the pole shootout, the Pramac Ducati pilot immediately lapping under the 1:28s bracket on a 1:27.846s effort to head the rest of the pack by over four-tenths-of-a-second.

Looking completely at one with his Ducati, the Spaniard then quickly got down to business in extending his leading advantage as the final runs got underway.

With a clean track in front, Martin stitched together a monstrous 1:27.246s tour that put him six-tenths clear of anyone else at that point.

Brad Binder got closest to usurping Martin, though the South African could only get to within 0.416s of him to claim second for the factory KTM outfit.

Bagnaia meanwhile completed a solid salvage effort to complete the front row in third, the factory Ducati rider having escaped Q1 by a couple of tenths along with Honda’s Marc Marquez.

He still lapped nearly half a second adrift of his chief championship rival though, leaving him with a tough task to prevent his 18-marker lead from being reduced in the Australian Grand Prix.

Aleix Espargaro managed to get a hold of a slipstream from the blazing Martin to slingshot his Aprilia into fourth, while Johann Zarco rounded off the top five on the sister Pramac Ducati entry.

Fabio Di Gianantonio again impressed in sixth for Gresini ahead of Marquez, while Jack Miller ended up eighth on the other factory KTM machine.

Maverick Vinales failed to match the speed of his team-mate and could only get ninth ahead of VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi, while GasGas’ Pol Espargaro and the other factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini completed the Q2 runners.

Augusto Fernandez looked good to make it out of Q1 throughout the test having led the way in the opening runs ahead of Bagnaia, though he ultimately came unstuck after Bagnaia went quicker and Marquez utilised his slipstream to snatch away the final spot.

He would subsequently be pushed back to 14^th by Alex Marquez’s Gresini Ducati, though he will start 17^th due to receiving a penalty for blocking Fabio Quartararo during FP2 on Friday.

Yamaha rider Quartararo’s tough weekend failed to improve on Saturday as he could manage a lowly 17^th in qualifying, meaning he will start just ahead of Fernandez in 16^th. Team-mate Franco Morbidelli meanwhile was a disastrous 20^th ahead of only LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami.

The Japanese rider is the last LCR man left standing after Alex Rins was forced to pull out from the rest of the Australian event due to suffering pain from his still-recovering leg.

Joan Mir was 16^th on his factory Honda, while Luca Marini struggled with his wrist injury at the fast Phillip Island venue en route to 18^th just ahead of RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira.   

Jorge Martin put on an overtaking masterclass in the Indonesian Grand Prix sprint race to snatch away the MotoGP points lead from Francesco Bagnaia, who finished eighth.

Martin managed to make up a position off the start due to a slow starting Aleix Espargaro to complete the opening tour in fifth, though swiftly managed to move through KTM’s Brad Binder and Fabio Quartararo to establish himself within the podium places in just a couple laps.

He then managed to surprise pole man Luca Marini to claim second just before half-distance while Maverick Vinales looked to be controlling things out front on his Aprilia.

After a few rest laps Martin began to close in though, the Spaniard wasting little time in capturing the leadership with a strong move into Turn 10 with just a few circulations left to run.

He managed his lead across the rest of the encounter to eventually take the chequered flag 1.1 seconds clear of Marini, Martin wrestling away the championship lead from Bagnaia with his third-successive MotoGP win.

Marini managed to dispatch a fading Vinales in the same manner as Martin had just a lap later and eventually claimed second, while VR46 team-mate Marco Bezzecchi carved through the pack from ninth on the grid to complete the rostrum positions.

Both VR46 pilots achieved these strong results off the back of broken collarbones. Marini suffered his breakage in the Indian GP sprint encounter three weeks ago, while Bezzecchi underwent surgery just five days ago before traveling to Indonesia.

Vinales ended up slipping to fourth by the chequered flag having lost his podium place to Bezzecchi on the final lap, while Yamaha’s Quartararo rounded off the top five.

Fabio Di Gianantonio rode a mature race to collect solid points for sixth on his Gresini-run Ducati ahead of factory Ducati duo Enea Bastianini and Francesco Bagnaia, the latter still looking uneasy with his Desmosedici as he ceded the points lead.

The reigning world champion now faces a seven-point deficit to overturn Martin heading into Sunday in Indonesia.

Jack Miller claimed the final point for ninth having run wide earlier in the race while battling within the top six, the Aussie getting the better of RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira in the latter stages of the contest.

Takaaki Nakagami did well to climb through the field from 20^th on the grid to 11^th at the flag on his LCR Honda, the Japanese ace leading home Pramac’s Johann Zarco.

Franco Morbidelli struggled to make progress on the sister Yamaha entry and matched his grid position of 15^th in the sprint, the Italian coming home just ahead of Honda’s Joan Mir and GasGas’ Pol Espargaro.

Brad Binder was the final classified finisher in 19^th having been taken out by Aleix earlier in the race, the latter trying to dive the South African at Turn 16. Aleix lost the front of his RS-GP mid-corner though and skittled both down, the Aprilia racer retiring from the race.

Marc Marquez also failed to reach the finish after the Honda pilot dropped his RC213V at Turn 11 on the opening lap.

Japanese Grand Prix winner Jorge Martin admitted that his third MotoGP victory of the year at Motegi “doesn’t feel like a victory” due to the race being ended at half-distance.

The Pramac Ducati rider recovered from a mistake, which involved him running wide and off track at Turn 3 and dropping from the lead to sixth, following his pit stop to swap to wet rubber along with the bulk of the field on the opening tour.

Retaking the lead on the sixth lap, Martin then continued to hold an advantage of just under a second-and-a-half over title rival Francesco Bagnaia as the Italian tried his best to save his rubber for a late race attack.

This scenario ultimately never played out as a red flag ended the race after 12 of the scheduled 24 laps had been completed due to ever-worsening track conditions due to the heavy rain seen on Sunday at Motegi.

With full points awarded, Martin has now closed to just three points adrift of Bagnaia with six events remaining this season, who conceded that he felt his fourth career win in Japan “doesn’t feel like a victory” due to the circumstances under which the race ended.

“Normally I struggle a bit in these conditions in acceleration, but I had great drive which I think was because of the electronics. It was the key because I was able to overtake in Turn 9, but I was on the limit with the front and didn’t have the best feeling,” said Martin following his Japanese GP success.

“Making the one-second gap on Pecco quickly was the crucial factor that allowed me to win today.

“I went from being really angry because of there being no visibility (fogged up visor) to being really happy when I saw the team celebrating. It doesn’t feel like a victory because it wasn’t the full race so the feeling isn’t the same, but there is full points so it’s important for the championship.

“I need to enjoy this moment, I’ve been on the podium for the last four races and won two of them so this is the way to keep performing in this way.”

Martin added that it was “difficult” before the start of the race as he saw other riders having moments alongside himself due to the progressively heavier rain while on slicks on the warm-up lap.

He also commented that he let the likes of Bagnaia and KTM’s Jack Miller through at the end of the opening tour so that he could work out the best time to pull into the pits to change tyres.

 “For sure it was a difficult moment at that point (rain starting on grid), I think the tougher thing was on the warm-up lap where I could see other riders were having moments,” continued Martin.

“I also had some (moments), so to start the race in these conditions is never easy. I was in first but I didn’t know exactly what to do so I let Pecco (Bagnaia) and Jack (Miller) through so I could understand what they were going to do (strategy.)

“So when they stopped I went with them, and when we were on wets I felt super strong. I had a big moment at Turn 3 and went wide so then had to come back from sixth, but I had amazing drive from the corners and was able to pass all of them.”

Jorge Martin was declared the victor of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix after extreme wet weather brought an early end to proceedings, the Spaniard further closing on the points lead.

The Pramac Ducati rider had to work hard at the start of the encounter as rain began to fall at the Mobility Resort Motegi venue, the field starting on slicks before it became clear the rain would not abate.

He lost the lead to KTM’s Jack Miller on the opening lap as everyone tiptoed around the circuit, with all but five riders peeling into the pits to change to their wet-weather bikes at the end of the opening circulation.

Martin escaped the pits in the lead having dropped to fifth across the final few corners on the opening lap, though was soon shuffled back once more as the leading pilots got up to speed, his cause not being helped by running wide at Turn 3 and dropping to ninth.

Aleix Espargaro had managed to get into the lead by opting for a soft compound tire at the rear of his Aprilia, though Martin soon found his feet and started to make his way through the pack.

By the time half a dozen laps had been completed, Martin had fought his way back to the front and started to edge clear of title rival Francesco Bagnaia, who dispatched Espargaro soon after.

The reigning premier class world champion kept the pressure on Martin until the race was red-flagged due to ever-worsening track conditions on lap 13, with a restart planned around 20 minutes later.

This was ultimately waved off though as the rain continued to soak the Motegi tarmac, a result being declared swiftly afterwards with full points being awarded due to more than half the 24-tours being run.

This meant Martin picked up his third grand prix win of the year to narrow his points deficit to Bagnaia to just three heading to Indonesia in two weeks.

Bagnaia thus was forced to settle for his ninth rostrum result of the season, his grip on the series lead loosening once again.

Marc Marquez meanwhile secured his first grand prix podium finish since his runners-up result in last year’s Australian GP, the Honda rider coming alive once the rain soaked the track and passing VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi only a few laps before the red flag.

Bezzecchi thus had to make do with fourth ahead of Espargaro, while Jack Miller claimed sixth on the sole remaining factory KTM after Brad Binder crashed out early on at Turn 3.

Augusto Fernandez enjoyed a strong wet-weather run to take seventh for GasGas ahead of Gresini’s Fabio Di Gianantonio, while RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez secured his third-straight top-ten result in ninth.

Fabio Quartararo completed the top ten for Yamaha having initially elected to stay out on slicks for an extra lap, though his gamble failed to pay off and he was forced to recover spots before the red flag was shown.

Miguel Oliveira lost out on a potential top-six finish after running into a technical problem with his RNF-run Aprilia just a lap before the race was stopped, while Johann Zarco also lost out on a decent result after crashing at the penultimate bend while moving through the top ten.  

Maverick Vinales meanwhile failed to score after being pushed off into the gravel by Bezzecchi on the opening lap, the Italian getting his braking wrong and running into the side of the Aprilia rider. Vinales went down as he touched the gravel as Zarco, who was trapped on the outside of Vinales, ran through the gravel and carried on.

Vinales rejoined the race a lap down, though was later given a long lap converted to a time penalty due to incorrectly completing the bike swap, a punishment also dished out to Yamaha wild-card Cal Crutchlow.

Jorge Martin flew to a third successive MotoGP sprint race win at the Mobility Resort Motegi to further close on series leader Francesco Bagnaia, who claimed third.  

The Pramac Ducati man made a good start from pole position to get the holeshot into Turn 1 ahead of the fast-starting KTM duo of Jack Miller and Brad Binder, who slipped by Bagnaia before they braked for the opening bend.

Martin immediately looked to break clear from the pack as he pushed early, Binder swiftly diving through on team-mate Miller with s bold move at Turn 11 on the first lap as he looked to challenge for the leadership.

The South African matched Martin across the opening half of the encounter and looked to potentially have enough to stage an attack in the latter stages, though Martin ultimately began to edge clear.

He eventually took the chequered flag after 12 laps to secure his third-straight sprint race victory in commanding style by 1.4 seconds over Binder.

Bagnaia meanwhile struggled to match the lead pair and instead had his hands full trying to relieve Miller of third, a task which looked eminently more possible as the race entered its final quarter.

With the factory Ducati rider looking like he had a little more rear grip left at the end, Bagnaia eventually forced Miller into a mistake at Turn 11 with just a couple of circulations remaining to move into the rostrum spots.

He eventually secured third across the line, albeit a distant five seconds adrift of title rival Martin, thus seeing his points gap reduced by five markers to just eight heading into Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Miller held off a closing Johann Zarco to keep hold of fourth, while Marco Bezzecchi came out on top of a tight battle for sixth with Marc Marquez’s Honda towards the end of the test.

Fabio Di Gianantonio ended up in the points for Gresini Ducati in eighth, while Maverick Vinales claimed the final point in ninth after team-mate Aleix Espargaro retired to the pits with a technical issue while running seventh towards the end.

Fabio Quartararo’s Saturday failed to improve in the sprint having already failed to escape the opening segment during qualifying. The factory Yamaha racer dropped from 14^th on the grid to 18^th on the opening lap, before only being able to recover to 15^th by the end.

He at least ended up as the best-placed of Yamaha’s contingent, with Franco Morbidelli shadowing his team-mate home in 16^th while the wild-carding Cal Crutchlow was classified 18^th after serving a long-lap penalty after picking up too many tack limits warnings.

The Brit did run at a similar pace to his teammates however and took the chequered flag just under seven seconds behind Quartararo despite his punishment.

Joan Mir struggled to make much progress after qualifying 15^th on the other Repsol Honda and took 13^th at the end behind Raul Fernandez’s RNF Aprilia and GasGas duo Pol Espargaro and Augusto Fernandez.

Michele Pirro was 19^th on the sister factory Ducati as he continues to deputise for Enea Bastianini, while Alex Rins’ LCR Honda replacement Stefan Bradl completed the 20 finishers.