Jake Dixon scored a fifth podium of 2025 at the Japanese Grand Prix thanks to an excellent fightback from 6^th, while Filip Salac was 13^th.

Despite spits of rain falling on the grid, track conditions were dry for Sunday’s Moto2 race with temperatures a hot 26 degrees when the race kicked off at 12.15 local time.

After working on race settings through Free Practice, tyre choice was clear for everyone going in to the 19-lap race with everyone choosing Pirelli’s soft front and super soft rear tyre options.

The Mobility Resort Motegi had a strong attendance on race day with 46,303 fans coming through the turnstiles.

Jake Dixon, 2nd

Starting from 6th, Jake enjoyed a strong start and gained one place on the first lap. The Briton then made neat moves on David Alonso, Diogo Moreira and Tony Arbolino to sit 2^nd by lap 10.

Once there, the 29-year old was the fastest rider on track. In the race’s second half he reduced the deficit to race leader Dani Holgado’s from 4.4s to 1.3s.

A second podium in the past three races sees Jake remain 5th in the championship standings with 172 points.

“It’s a good result but “It’s a good result but I’m left wanting more! We must do better in qualifying because I’m sure that if I was starting on the front row the result could have been even better today. Once I got to second and into clear air, I was able to close the gap to the rider ahead. But it was too little, too late. Dani (Holgado) rode a great race to create that gap at the beginning and he could control it from there. But I must do better. The last two races I’ve been fast. But it was embarrassing how slow I was in Misano. Here, we were so much better off. I’m so grateful to the team, who’ve given me a great bike now for the past five races. Today the bike was good enough to win, but I just didn’t finish the job off. Now we’ll go to Indonesia, regroup and put the hard work in from Friday so we’re fighting at the front again.”

Filip Salac, 13^th

Launching from 18th on the grid, Filip had a tricky start to the race and ended the first lap in 20^th place.

The Czech rider then made quick progress as he jumped into the point scoring positions by lap six. He continued to pass riders ahead, but a lack of rear grip in the closing laps prevented him from finishing at the front of the fight for eleventh.

As a result of today, Filip climbs one place to 14^th in the championship standings with 82 points.

“It was the best day of the weekend here in Japan. It was unfortunate that I was starting so far back on the grid. There were lots of incidents on the first lap and I got stuck behind (Aron) Canet. It was tough to pass him with a full tank of fuel, but when I did manage it, my pace was good. In the last laps the rear grip wasn’t good enough to finish at the front of my group. I scored some points but the most important thing is I got my feeling with the front end of the bike back, as well as the turning. That was missing at the last round and on Friday here. Hopefully in Indonesia we can start with the feeling we had today. If we can, then I’m sure we’ll have a good weekend.”