The Japanese sprint race started after an uneventful warm-up. And right from the start, we had a yellow flag, caused by a crash involving Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martín at Turn 1. The race stewards announced that the incident would be reviewed after the sprint. For Aprilia, the sprint came to an early end.

However, Bagnaia, starting from pole, managed to hold onto his position, with Mir in second. But Marc Márquez, who started from third place, dropped to fourth. Pedro Acosta had incredible pace, which he used to climb into second place.

The top ten after the first lap looked as follows: Bagnaia, Acosta, Mir, Márquez, Morbidelli, Quartararo, Marini, Fernández, Álex, and Ogura.

After the first lap, Acosta had already received a track limits warning, which is very early at this stage of the race and could affect the final results.

Meanwhile, at the front, Bagnaia extended his gap to Acosta in second. On the other hand, Marc began battling with Mir, but so far he was not successful.

On lap 6, the top ten looked as follows: Bagnaia, Acosta, Mir, Márquez, Morbidelli, Quartararo, Marini, Fernández, Álex, and Ogura.

On lap 7, Enea Bastianini crashed out of the sprint. Meanwhile, Marc managed to overtake Joan Mir, moving into 3rd place. Moments later, Márquez caught up to Acosta and easily overtook him, taking 2nd place.

But with only 2 laps to go, Bagnaia had a gap of 2.7s, which Marc was unable to close—unless Bagnaia made a mistake.

On lap 11, Johann Zarco retired from the race due to mechanical issues. On the last lap, Jack Miller crashed out at sector 3, retiring from the race. And Francesco Bagnaia took his first sprint victory of the 2025 season, with his teammate Marc Márquez in second place.