Enea Bastianini won the Moto3 race in Motegi, his first win of 2016, in dramatic circumstances. Brad Binder had led almost the entire race but at Turn 11 on the final lap Bastianini would overtake down the inside and then stay ahead by 17 thousandths of a second at the line.
At the start it was Andrea Migno who kept the lead from pole but Binder soon passed him on the first lap. Migno would then run wide later in the first lap and drop to fifth. The main mover was Francesco Bagnaia who came from 13th on the grid to be running in third place early on.
After a poor qualifying, Jorge Navarro was trying to make up places at the first turn but he tagged with a Leopard Bike and went flying into the gravel, taking John McPhee and Gabriel Rodrigo down with him. It is rumoured that this incident has resulted in a dislocated shoulder for Navarro.
Binder would go on to look dominant at the front, even though the gap was small, with him holding P1 while Migno, Bagnaia, Hiroki Ono and Nicolo Bulega fought for position behind. With eighth laps remaining the field began to spread out more and it became clear that the fight for the win was a two horse race.
Binder seemed destined for the victory having stayed in front for such a long time but Bastianini was very close on the final lap and at Turn 11 went down the inside and got a reasonable exit and took the race lead. Binder tried to slipstream past him on the run up to the line but fell just 0.017 seconds short of the win.
Behind them Migno, Bulega and Ono fought for the final podium spot as Bagnaia faded away. At Turn 9 of the final lap Migno tried to pass Ono but he clipped the rear of the Honda was sent off the bike. This handed Ono his first world championship podium in front of his home crowd. The first time this had happened in Japan since 2001.
Phillip Oettl managed to come home fifth, behind Bulega, with Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth and Bagnaia seventh. Livio Loi, Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir rounded out the top ten places.
