The Japanese Grand Prix, in Motegi, is well and truly legendary. Indeed, on this circuit belonging to Honda, the exceptionally talented Marc Marquez bagged his second consecutive MotoGP title on a Honda, what else, thanks to a second place dearly clinched behind Jorge Lorenzo. Aged 21 years and 237 days, he is the youngest rider to pull off such a performance, a record which he snatches from Mike Hailwood (23 years and 152 days). During this race that took place in glorious sunshine the Motul-partnered Yamaha Tech3 riders all finished in the top ten, Espargaro missing seventh place by a narrow margin. 'Eighth place was not what I was hoping for,' he admitted, 'but it was a difficult race and I had to fight to secure it.' Bradley Smith bagged ninth place and Aleix Espargaro, the Motul rider for NGM Forward Racing, finished eleventh.
Moto3 category also saw fiercely fought battles with, at the end of the race, a sudden streak of luck allowing Alex Marquez (Marc's younger brother) to bag victory, thereby leading the championship.
