Bagnaia takes the sprint victory after Acosta's crash

Francesco Bagnaia capitalized on Jorge Martin's six-point MotoGP points lead by leading a one-two finish for the factory Ducati team in the GP sprint race in Japan on Saturday.

Polesitter Pedro Acosta was thwarted in his quest for his first MotoGP victory after the Tech3 rider crashed out of the lead with three laps to go.

Martin limited the points damage that Bagnaia could do after making an excellent escape from his poor starting position of 11th. The Pramac Ducati rider drove a stable race and finished fourth, which secured him a decent amount of points.

Martin will go into the Grand Prix on Sunday with a 15-point lead over Bagnaia.

While there was some drizzle in the air before the start and during parts of the race, the precipitation was never enough to cause drivers to consider wet tires or create a truly wet track surface. As far as slick compounds go, all of the top contenders opted for a hard front and soft rear for the 12-lap race car.

Acosta failed to get away from pole position as he had wanted, allowing Bagnaia to take an early lead and allow the Italian's teammate Enea Bastianini to overtake Acosta outside the first corner.

This trio immediately pulled away from Brad Binder (KTM), the fast-starting Martin, Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati) and Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati). Then, in round three, the precocious Acosta attacked double world champion Bagnaia.

The 20-year-old made a perfect pass as he overtook Bagnaia on the inside into Turn 5. After taking time to get back into his rhythm, he seemed to pull the plug on lap eight and take a significant lead over the two red Ducatis.

But Acosta pushed the front wheel a little too hard, as he realized when he turned into Turn 7 a lap later. After sliding on his back through the gravel, he will have to wait at least another day to claim the victory that has eluded him so far in his rookie season.

After Acosta's crash, Bagnaia had to prevail against Bastianini and Marc Marquez in the final laps. The eight-time world champion Marquez briefly got ahead of Bastianini between turns 10 and 11 on the penultimate tour, but was unable to complete the attack and had to settle for third place.

Marquez initially made it into the top three because he overtook Morbidelli on lap one, Martin on lap two and Binder retired on lap three due to a technical defect.

After overtaking his teammate Morbidelli on the first lap, Martin had no problems on his way to fourth place. He had reason to be cautious after receiving a warning about track restrictions early in the race and was smart enough to take the points while keeping Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio's VR46 Ducati at bay.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) emerged victorious at the end of an entertaining four-way battle for seventh place, edging out Jack Miller (KTM), Maverick Vinales (who had a typically horror start on his Aprilia and the first lap from the front row) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati).

There was little joy for the home fans on Saturday as the Japanese manufacturers remained pointless and Fabio Quartararo's factory Yamaha was their best representative in 12th place.

Meanwhile, local hero Takaaki Nakagami was knocked out of the race by his LCR Honda teammate Johann Zarco. Zarco was immediately given a long lap penalty for his involvement in the incident.

MotoGP GP of Japan – Sprint results: