MotoGP’s title battle now moves into an Asian sequence of five races across six weekends. Jorge Martin arrives at Motegi leading the world championship by 12 points over reigning champion Marc Marquez, having won both races at the Red Bull Ring.

Seven rounds remain, and the contest extends well beyond the top two. Martin’s Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi is 42 points off the lead, while Pedro Acosta is 72 behind. Acosta enters the Japanese round after taking his first MotoGP win in Austria. Fabio di Giannantonio, Ai Ogura, Raul Fernandez and Alex Marquez have also won a 2026 Grand Prix, giving all four the opportunity to alter the points battle by taking important results away from the leading contenders.

Martin regards the start of the Asian tour as an “extremely important stage” and has stressed consistency, concentration and continued progress with Aprilia. Following his successful Austrian weekend, he chose not to undergo surgery for arm pump. Motegi also brings back a difficult memory: Martin suffered a broken collarbone in last year’s Sprint after colliding with Bezzecchi at Turn 1. Bezzecchi took two third places in Austria and returned the next day after that incident to finish fourth in the Grand Prix despite the pain. For this year’s visit to Japan, he has set the objective of producing a strong weekend while continuing the work already under way with Aprilia.