The Japan Times - Marquez looking to crown comeback with MotoGP title in Japan

The Spanish Ducati rider can win his seventh world title if he finishes the weekend in Motegi with at least three more points than his brother and nearest championship rival Alex Marquez.

The 32-year-old is back on top after an injury saga that began when he broke his right arm in 2020 and almost convinced him to hang up his helmet.

Marquez has a huge championship lead over his brother and still has five weekends left to clinch the title if he fails to get the job done in Japan.

But he said he is looking to "celebrate something big" this weekend after coming back from what he described as the biggest challenge of his career.

"Right now it's my second life in MotoGP and this will be important if we can close all that circle in the best way possible," Marquez said on Thursday.

"Still six races to go but I want to keep the full focus."

Marquez has a whopping 512 championship points, already a single-season record for a MotoGP rider, and has 11 grand prix wins so far this year.

He has happy memories of the circuit in Japan, clinching the championship there in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

Marquez said he would try to "keep the same mentality" but would not panic if he has to keep the championship champagne on ice for longer.

"It's true that I'm very close to close a cycle where I started five years ago with a very big injury, so let's see if we can finish in the best way possible," he said.

"I repeat, if it's not this weekend, it will not be a disaster. We have another five chances in front."

Marquez suffered a rare slip-up in San Marino two weeks ago when he crashed while leading the sprint.

He made no mistake in the following day's grand prix, overtaking pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi to move into the lead before calmly seeing out the win.

It was Marquez's 99th race win across MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3.

It also gave him his first opportunity this season to clinch the title and he said it was "impossible not to think about" achieving it.

"When you are in the interviews or when you are in the paddock, everybody is asking you the same question," he said.

"How is your feeling? You feel, but in the end the emotions are quite constant, that is the most important."

K.Inoue--JT