MOTEGI:

Marc Marquez can clinch his seventh MotoGP world championship in Japan at the weekend to underline a season of dominance and match the record of motorcycle great Valentino Rossi.

The Spanish Ducati rider is on a whopping 512 points and needs just three points more than his brother Alex Marquez to win the title with five weekends to spare of the 22-race season.

Sealing a first championship since 2019 at Motegi would crown a comeback from an injury nightmare which began when Marquez broke his right arm in 2020.

The 32-year-old has been in unstoppable form this year and his points total is already a single-season record for a MotoGP rider.

The last of his three Japanese MotoGP wins came in 2019, but such is his brilliance that Marquez’s victory in San Marino two weeks ago was his 11th in 16 races this campaign. He has also won 14 of the 16 sprints.

“We’ll approach Motegi the same way, maintaining the same performance level we’ve shown in all these races,” Marquez said.

“There are six events left in the season but we want to wrap up the title race as soon as possible.”

Marquez suffered a rare slip-up in San Marino when he crashed while leading the sprint.

He made no mistake in the following day’s Grand Prix, overtaking pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi to move into the lead on lap 12 before calmly seeing out the win.

It was Marquez’s 99th race win across MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3.

– Messi celebrations –

His charge to the title has been helped by team-mate Francesco Bagnaia’s erratic form and injuries to defending world champion Jorge Martin.

Bagnaia, a twice world champion, has finished no higher than seventh in his last four races and has won only once this season.

Alex Marquez has been his brother’s closest challenger and is almost 100 points ahead of third-place Bagnaia in the standings.

He knows his brother’s coronation as world champion is just a matter of time, but he is looking to postpone the inevitable for as long as possible.

“We’ll continue on our path to the runner-up spot in the championship, which would be a really great result,” Alex Marquez said after the San Marino race.

Last year’s Japanese MotoGP saw Bagnaia win both the sprint and the Grand Prix to cut Martin’s championship lead with four races remaining.

Marquez, then riding for Gresini, finished third after a titanic tussle with Enea Bastianini.

Marquez was all but out of the championship picture by that time but the situation could not be more different 12 months later.

He will be hoping to give Japanese fans a glimpse of his Lionel Messi-inspired celebration, which he unveiled in San Marino.

Marquez whipped off his racing leathers and showed them to the crowd in a similar gesture to the Argentina star’s celebration after scoring a late winner for Barcelona against Real Madrid in 2017.

Marc Marquez said the championship celebrations were “getting closer and closer”.

“It looks like a matter of time but I want to keep the same mentality,” he said.

“Now we need to close as soon as possible, but I know that Alex is also super fast, and he’s also fighting for second place in the championship.”