The MotoGP World Championship is still in full swing, and after the Japanese GP there was no change in the overall standings, but Pecco Bagnaia took another important step in his recovery in the fight for the title, with Jorge Martín still in the lead but now only 10 points behind. There was only one change in the top five, with Brad Binder the new fifth-placed rider, reclaiming his former position from Pedro Acosta.
Martín remains the leader of the standings with 392 points, and in Japan he scored a total of 26, a lesser evil still for the Pramac Racing rider who had a strong race on Sunday, coming second after starting both races of the weekend from 11th place.
Bagnaia, for his part, is still in second place, but he has gained eleven points on his rival and reduced the gap to a dozen, after adding 37 points this weekend as a result of his victory in the Sprint and the long race. The Italian now has 382 points and is still looking to renew his three-race championship.
The fight for third place is also very heated, with Enea Bastianini and Marc Márquez separated by just two points: 313 vs 311. Bastianini scored 22 points this weekend, one less than his opponent who managed to finish on the podium in both races, with two third places, while Bestia was fourth yesterday in the long race, and second in the Sprint.
The first change came in fifth place, with Brad Binder reclaiming the position from Pedro Acosta, his future teammate. The 10 points scored were enough for the South African, after Acosta even got pole position but had problems in both races, where he crashed. Two points separate the pair, 183 to 181 respectively.
Maverick Viñales, seventh, is Aprilia’s top man with 163 points, having scored just one this weekend, and now has Franco Morbidelli, (134 points) eighth, as the Italian has scored 16 points to move into the top ten.
The VR46 Racing Team duo round off the top ten with the same score, 134. Marco Bezzecchi (+9 points) is ninth and Fabio Di Giannantonio (+12) is tenth.
It should be noted that Aleix Espargaró has the same points as the Italian duo, also 134.