MOTEGI, Japan — Two separate Motegi engine failures forced MotoGP race officials to stop practice twice in less than 24 hours at the Japanese Grand Prix. Both blowups spilled oil across the circuit’s resurfaced asphalt, one on Friday and one on Saturday.
Ogura’s Blowup Opens the Weekend
Home rider Ai Ogura‘s Trackhouse Aprilia blew its engine about eight minutes into Friday afternoon’s opening practice session, according to MotoGP.com’s official race coverage. Smoke poured from the bike as Ogura pulled off near the pit exit on the front straight, and Race Direction threw an immediate red flag.
Marshals inspected the full circuit for spilled oil before crews applied absorbent powder to several sections of track, according to mcnews.com.au. Officials cleared the new Motegi surface and practice resumed after the stoppage.
Two Motegi Engine Failures, Two Red Flags
Less than 24 hours later, Franco Morbidelli‘s Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team Ducati suffered its own engine failure. The blowup came roughly six minutes into Saturday’s final practice session, again spilling fluid onto the racing line, according to Crash.net’s session report. Marshals moved to check Turns 6 through 8 for debris and fluid while officials halted the session a second time.
Morbidelli got off the racing line quickly after the failure, limiting how much fluid reached the track surface, but the session still had to stop so marshals could clear the affected corners before riders returned at speed. He went on to post the 16th-fastest time in the session despite the mechanical failure. Marco Bezzecchi topped the final practice timesheets for Aprilia, while Ogura’s engine failure a day earlier added to a difficult weekend for the home favorite, who missed the direct cut to Q2 and had to navigate Qualifying 1.
Friday’s session alone produced 28 falls across the Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP classes combined — up from 24 the previous year and more than double the 12 recorded in 2024, according to mcnews.com.au’s practice report. That elevated incident count came on Motegi’s resurfaced asphalt, which has required additional track-limit and grip monitoring throughout the weekend.
Both red flags followed the same pattern: a sudden mechanical failure dropped fluid onto a live circuit. Marshals then had to walk the track and clear the hazard before officials let the field resume at racing speed. Two such stoppages inside 24 hours is an unusual concentration for a single Grand Prix weekend. It is also the latest reminder of how quickly mechanical failures can scatter debris across a circuit — a pattern FODNews has tracked off the racetrack too, including a detached winglet that struck a rider in the chest at the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this season.
Neither Ogura nor Morbidelli was reported injured in their respective incidents. Both riders’ teams were expected to investigate the cause of the failures before Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, round 16 of the 2026 MotoGP season.
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Sources
- News.GP — “Alex Márquez leads Acosta in the afternoon practice at Motegi” (Fri. Oct. 2, 2026)
- MCNews.com.au — “Alex Marquez tops Motegi MotoGP Friday Practice” (Fri. Oct. 2, 2026)
- Crash.net — “2026 MotoGP Japan, Motegi – Saturday Practice Results” (Sat. Oct. 3, 2026)
- Crash.net — “MotoGP Japan LIVE: Motegi Sprint race updates” (Sat. Oct. 3, 2026)
- MotoGP.com — “Alex Marquez leads intense Practice at Motegi, Ogura faces Q1” (Fri. Oct. 2, 2026)
