Brad Binder was the leader of an exciting practice session at the Japanese MotoGP. The rider set a new track record at Motegi with a time of 1m43.489s, but two more riders also managed to be faster than the previous record.
Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) was the initial leader of the session, ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac/Ducati). The first two riders then swapped positions. Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) took the lead for the first time with his third lap, setting the best time of the day at that point, with a lap in the 1m44s.
There was some stability in the positions despite some riders improving their times. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati) managed to move up to third place. About half an hour before the checkered flag, Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) moved into second place and then took the lead.
Shortly after, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) closed in on the Portuguese rider. He was only overtaken in the final quarter of an hour by Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and then by Binder, who regained the lead right after. At that point, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) was lagging behind in the standings but recovered to second place.
With eight minutes to go, Di Giannantonio surpassed Binder to become the leader. The South African rider was later overtaken by Aleix Espargaró but quickly regained the lead with a new record lap. At that point, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) was lagging behind in the standings but managed to recover to second place.
Nothing else changed at the front until the end. Binder was the fastest with a 0.029s advantage over Bagnaia, with Aleix Espargaró in third. Martín and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) completed the top five.
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