Best MotoGP™ Moments 🏆 | 2025 Japanese GP

Lights out and we're racing in this potential title decider here in Motegi. It's a great start from pole position by Pekka Banyaya, who flies down towards the first corner, leading the field. Mir has a mistake on the factory Honda on the brakes into Turn 1. That's a lap. Marc Marquez up into P3. Acosta's been wrapping away from the second brawler on the grid. He's up in second. Marc, though, is third. Mir now attacking on Quattro Aro, who spent most of yesterday defending from a Honda. This time the Honda's through on the start of Lap 2. Mir goes through into fourth place. Can he get more? That would be the big question. Once again, it looks so nervous, so unsettled in front of that Honda. Quattro Aro gets a rather unfriendly tap from Morbidelli. He left the door open up into Quattro Aro, going into Turn 5. Morbidelli sees the tarmac, perfectly entitled to do so. And it's been a real... Well, that mistake at Turn 5 from Quattro Aro has seen him drop from fourth to eighth. Bassacchi launches it. He really does launch it, but you just know that Morbidelli was going to try and tough it out. Bassacchi then finally has got through. That was a real bold move by Bass going through Turn 7. You don't see too many passes made there. That was top draw stuff from the Italian. This is as close as Marc has been for quite some time. Finally, then, finally, on Lap 11 of 24, Marc has made the move. Acosta just trying to run that tighter inside line as they sweep through the double left-hander of Turn 3 and 4. He's taken the best part of 11 laps and in three corners for Marc to finally find himself up into P2. He's going for it. Into Sever and he goes. Yeah, Acosta looks like he's really struggling at the moment with grip on those Michelin tyres, doesn't he? Joan Mir then does fight his way through up into third place. The home crowd are loving this as we have a Honda on the podium potentially here in the Honda-owned Motegi circuit. That was a lovely move. Mir set that up brilliantly. Attacked hard on Acosta on the brakes in 2.5 and then had much better corner speed. Oh, front's going. Yeah, Acosta's really struggling. Oh, what's going on with Bagnani? Bagnani's got smoke. What's going on here? There's smoke coming off the rear of Bagnani's factory Ducati. There's something just rubbing on that rear tyre where there was clear signs of smoke wasn't there. On the right-hand side of Bagnani's Ducati, we're going to be keeping a very, very close eye on this one as he was going through the double right-handers of 3 and 4. Oh, yeah, another puff of smoke there. It's just something. Well, he'd be hoping that something's just catching. A shake of the head from Davide Tardozzi because this would be a heartache. This would be so, so cool if there's a tech issue which could threaten Bagnani's Japanese Grand Prix dominance. There. Oh, the smoke is back. Well, that's clear. That's the biggest puff of smoke we have seen. That is at its worst. No question about it. Still doing 45.5s, in fairness to Bagnani. Five more laps for that Ducati to hang on. Here is Bagnani, your race leader. Smoke billows once again out of the exhaust on the factory Ducati. Pops a little bit of a wheelie as he grabs a handful of fossil out of that final corner. Two laps to go then here, and it's a two-second lead that Bagnani takes into this lap 23 of 24. Pekka Bagnani will win the Japanese Grand Prix, but from career-saving surgery in Minnesota back to the top seven podium in Motorland, the crowning glory here in Motegi is the comeback, the top of all comebacks. Marc Marquez is the 2025 MotoGP World Champion. He hit rock bottom, but he's risen to the top once again and clinches his seventh MotoGP World Championship. He has done it. Comeback loading, comeback fully loaded. One of the first riders to congratulate him is a person who has seen all of the dark times that Marc has gone through since Jerez in 2020. This is going to feel immense. This is going to feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders, because finally, finally, after six long years, we can say once again in the same sentence, Marc Marquez, MotoGP World Champion. And there you go. That is confirmation of the coronation. The comeback king is back on the throne as Marc Marquez once again adds his name to the tower of champions. He is the world champion. What a journey it has been. What a story.