Jorge Martin cut the gap with championship leader Francesco Bagnaia to just eight points at the Japan MotoGP on Saturday with his third straight sprint victory.

After cutting the gap to 13 points last weekend in India, the Spaniard from Ducati satellite team Pramac also secured pole position for Sunday with a record lap at Motegi.

“I felt super strong for today’s race,” the smiling 25-year-old, nicknamed “Martinator”, said after the sprint victory ahead of Brad Binder (KTM) in second and Bagnaia (Ducati) in third.

“I think we found a great base... Tomorrow I can be having more calm. With more laps, we need to manage the tyres. I feel really happy overall and yeah, let’s go for another victory tomorrow,” Martin said.

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