Japan. Twin Ring Motegi. A circuit carved into the green hills of Tochigi where Moto2 becomes a knife fight at 300 km/h. For Italjet, this was another chapter in our first season as title sponsor of Gresini Racing, and for Albert Arenas and Darryn Binder, a weekend that would test nerve, muscle, and machine.
MotoGP’s Japanese round doesn’t ease you in. The corners demand blood, the straights amplify every weakness, and one mistake is enough to end your weekend. As the Italjet Gresini squad rolled into Motegi, there was no doubt: we were stepping into the deep end of a brutal overseas double-header.
Friday: Arenas on Target
Day one at Motegi was all about survival speed. Grip was there, but the margin was razor-thin. Albert Arenas carved out a 14th-fastest time and secured a direct ticket to Q2. Darryn Binder fought hard but ended the day in 27th, left to rebuild overnight and search for more stability on the brakes.
Practice – JapaneseGP: 14th Arenas 1’49.248s; 27th Binder 1’50.049s.
FP1: 17th Arenas 1’50.085s; 19th Binder 1’50.212s.
Arenas kept it clinical:
“Today we worked a lot on race pace and we hit our goal, which was to make it into Q2… We still have a big margin for improvement and, by working well, we can battle for a spot on the front rows.”
Binder didn’t sugarcoat it:
“It’s so good to be back here in Japan… Today has been a little bit of a tough day: it is really important to have a bike that stops well in this track and we’re working on it…”
Saturday: Fourth Row Locked
Qualifying was pure tension. Arenas kept his rhythm and pulled out a 1’48.626, enough for 12th place, the fourth row. A dangerous slot, close enough to attack but surrounded by chaos. Binder made a step forward in Q1 but crashed at Turn 10 pushing for more. He would start 24th.
Qualifying – JapaneseGP: 12th Arenas 1’48.626 (Q2); 24th Binder 1’49.165 (Q1).
Arenas:
“Thanks to yesterday’s work, this morning we immediately noticed an improvement… We lacked a few tenths… we’ll study the data to understand what’s the better performing package for tomorrow.”
Binder:
“This morning I made a little step forward… Going into Q1 I felt quite good… but unfortunately in the second run I asked too much going into turn 10 and had a little crash.”
Sunday: Seven Points and a Crash
Lights out, and the Moto2 pack detonated. Daniel Holgado was untouchable up front, with Jake Dixon and Diogo Moreira filling the podium. Behind them, the real fight was survival. Albert Arenas dug deep, his opening laps running at top-three pace. By the flag he was ninth, banking seven valuable points and climbing to 8th in the world championship with 108 points.
Darryn Binder was pushing hard until Turn 9 bit back. A front-end loss, a slide into gravel, and the end of his Japanese GP. A bitter pill, no points, no mercy.
Arenas, post-race:
“It was a good weekend… The first seven laps, in particular, with full tank and fresh tyres were top 3 worthy in terms of pace, but it wasn’t enough. We know where we need to work on and we’ll continue to do it, in order to fight at least for the top 5 in the next race.”
Binder, with honesty:
“Really disappointed to crash out of the Japanese GP… I was feeling pretty good… but unfortunately I lost the front going into turn 9. Now onto Indonesia, looking forward to improve there.”
The Numbers
- Winner / Podium: Daniel Holgado (P1), Jake Dixon (P2), Diogo Moreira (P3)
- Albert Arenas: P9 → 7 points → 8th in championship (108 pts)
- Darryn Binder: NC (crash, Turn 9) → 24th in championship (12 pts)
Surviving Motegi
Motegi strips a team bare. It doesn’t care about your plan, your form, or your mood, only what you can deliver when the lights go out. Italjet Gresini left Japan with seven points, Arenas rising into the top ten of the world championship, Binder walking away hungry for redemption.
Now the circus rolls to Indonesia. New track, new chaos, and another shot to turn pain into pace.
