Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team conquer the Grand Prix of Japan. Francesco Bagnaia eighth

· Ducati celebrates its 100th MotoGP win under Luigi Dall'Igna as Ducati Corse General Manager

The Ducati Lenovo Team came out victorious in the Grand Prix of Japan with Marc Márquez, who was the absolute star this weekend at the Mobility Resort Motegi. An encouraging performance also for Francesco Bagnaia, who was eighth at the flag.

Márquez retained second place at the start and waited a few laps before applying pressure on Martín. He then overtook his rival on lap 11 and created a small lead, which he managed perfectly up to the finish line. Bagnaia had a very good start from row five and made his way up to ninth position. Pecco, courtesy of a race pace that kept improving throughout the race, managed to finish the encounter in eighth position.

As the sixteenth Grand Prix of the season draws to a close, Marc Márquez is second in the championship standings with 331 points, only two adrift of the leader. Francesco Bagnaia is ninth with 164 points. The Ducati Lenovo Team is second in the teams' standings (495 points), while Ducati sits first in the Constructors' Championship (469 points).

The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action on Friday, October 9th, for the opening day of the Grand Prix of Indonesia at the Mandalika International Street Circuit.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“I'm really happy with the 37 points we were able to score this weekend, because that was the goal. It was a difficult race, especially in the opening laps behind Jorge (Martín). Then, once in the lead, I simply managed my pace and pushed a little harder when he got closer. It's never easy, but the feeling from the Sprint onwards was very good, and today I was able to be consistent and precise. Now let's see how things will be in Indonesia but, generally speaking, since Aragón – Austria aside – I am feeling really well with the bike. I'm happy with Gigi's 100 wins and to have given my little contribution. I'm taking great advantage of everything he's built with Ducati over the years.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 8th
“It was a tough race. We made the most of some crashes ahead of us, but generally speaking I knew that we couldn't have gone faster than this. I tried to be as consistent as possible and during the race I tried several things to understand if I could make the difference riding-wise in any way. I couldn't get the bike to decelerate on corner entry and then, on corner exit, I found myself in the wrong place. Often enough I need to hit the brakes 'stoppie style', but it's not something I can do for the whole race because the bike becomes very nervous. The team has really done an excellent job, but we simply couldn't have done any better this weekend.”

Luigi Dall'Igna – Ducati Corse General Manager
“The goal for the weekend was to take the win and we managed to do so. Having said that, anything can happen in motorcycle racing, so you can never be fully relaxed, especially when tyre choice is so difficult. We split the workload between our riders during warm-up and managed to understand what the right direction was, even though in some way it was already clear. Marc was simply extraordinary and in these last races he's doing everything right, so congratulations to him and the whole team. Pecco also did a good job, despite the issues he's experiencing.”

Ducati MotoGP wins under Dall'Igna, per rider

F. Bagnaia  31
Marc Márquez  20
Andrea Dovizioso  14
Jorge Martín  8
Enea Bastianini  7
Álex Márquez  4
Jorge Lorenzo  3
Jack Miller  3
Marco Bezzecchi  3
Danilo Petrucci  2
F. Di Giannantonio  2
Andrea Iannone  1
Johann Zarco  1
Fermín Aldeguer  1