South Africa's Brad Binder clocked the fastest time in practice for the Japan MotoGP on Friday, with championship leader Jorge Martin finishing third. Pramac rider Martin is looking to win his first MotoGP championship after finishing second behind Ducati's Bagnaia last year.

Championship leader Martin was third for Pramac, while his chief title rival Francesco Bagnaia was seventh at the chequered flag. Martin kicked off Practice setting the reference lap time at 1m44.320s on his Pramac-run GP24, before Bagnaia took over with a 1m44.072s eight minutes into the session.

Francesco Bagnaia won the Japan MotoGP ahead of championship front-runner Jorge Martin on Sunday to cut the Spaniard's lead in the overall standings to 10 points with four races remaining.

Francesco Bagnaia won the Japan MotoGP ahead of championship front-runner Jorge Martin on Sunday to cut the Spaniard’s lead in the overall standings to 10 points with four races remaining.

Marc Marquez still has a mathematical chance of winning the MotoGP title but the six-times premier class champion conceded on Thursday it was a now a two-horse race between points leader Jorge Martin and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia.

South Africa's Brad Binder clocked the fastest time in practice for the Japan MotoGP on Friday, with championship leader Jorge Martin finishing third.

But it was Bagnaia who led the way with a 1m45.209s lap when light rain began to fall just 13 minutes into the session. At this point, the entire field headed for the pits and all

Championship leader Jorge Martin on Thursday warned of "unpredictable" conditions at this weekend's Japan MotoGP as he looks to increase his lead over nearest challenger Francesco Bagnaia. "I see that the weather forecast is quite unpredictable so it will be also difficult and really challenging.