Marc Marquez told he overcame one hurdle ‘no one’ expected him to before claiming a seventh MotoGP title

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Marc Marquez coasted to second place at the Japanese Grand Prix and secured a deserved seventh MotoGP title at Motegi.

Even though he had to watch Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia beat him on merit for the first time this season, he won’t have been too bothered. After a six-year wait and a gruelling recovery from multiple accidents, he is a MotoGP champion once again.

Marquez didn’t look overly comfortable throughout the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, which might have been a direct influence of being on the verge of such a significant triumph. He has overcome so many hurdles and proven so many wrong to return to the top.

After watching Bagnaia, Marquez is secretly ‘seething’ behind the scenes, but his entire focus will turn to 2026 now. There are multiple races left which can be treated as big opportunities to get ahead for the next title charge, where a ‘spectacular’ rider aims to dethrone Marquez.

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Marc Marquez told ‘no one’ expected him to beat the young MotoGP riders before claiming title

Marquez revealed the most important thing he ‘learned’ as he found his groove again. He now knows that risking his body for results is not worth it, and that caution can yield more results down the line than pushing himself over the edge.

After making some big mistakes earlier in the campaign, he managed to cut his errors altogether, and Japan showed how far he has come. He was content with second. Marquez will retire when he ‘realises’ one thing, but the time for that is not close yet.

Speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix, TNT Sports’ Michael Laverty mentioned that ‘no one’ expected the seven-time MotoGP champion to beat the young riders of today before he joined Ducati, especially after witnessing the toll his injury had taken on his body.

“When you think of those numbers, and the vindication that Luigi Dall’Igna and Davide Tardozzi, all the management that have sat around a board table at the Audi Group, at Ducati and decided Marc Marquez was their man,” he said.

“No one expected him to usurp the young pretenders like Jorge Martin, like Enea Bastianini, but Marc, in the latter years of his career, has shown that he was the man to bet on. He’s still as good as he ever was. That has been such a shrewd move by Ducati.”

READ MORE: Jack Miller shares what he finds ‘impressive’ about Marc Marquez’s comeback to MotoGP after injury woes

Which new records did Marc Marquez set at the Japanese Grand Prix?

After finishing second at Motegi, Marquez finished his 10th consecutive Grand Prix in the top two and 12th consecutive on the podium. He’s a relentless machine.

Being crowned champion also sees him become the oldest in MotoGP’s history (32), beating the previous record set by Valentino Rossi (30).

He is now the holder of the record for the longest time between achieving a first and last MotoGP championship (12 years).

There are still other accolades that can be achieved and extended before the end of the campaign, including most points in a season, but for now, the celebrations must begin at Ducati.