After an opening lap bike swap, 🐼Martin and Bagnaia took ov🧔er first and second places on lap 6 at Motegi.

Marquez meanwhile yo-yoed between second and sixth places 𒉰before reeling in the leaders as the rain intensified.

The Repsol Honda rider then claimed his first Sunday podium of th🧜e season by pass🦩ing Marco Bezzecchi on lap 12 and was closing on Bagnaia and Martin ahead.

Marquez looked to have a real c🎶hance of ending his two-year victory ‘dro♛ught’ but he signalled the conditions had become too dangerous just as red flags were waved a lap later.

T𒈔he early end confirmed victory for Martin, who is now❀ just three points behind Bagnaia.

“Massive race from these two guys that are fighting in the championship. It’s not easy🌄 to take the risks they took,” Marquez said.

“Amazing. I know what it’s like when you are fight🐈ing for a championship in these kind of conditions. Massive respect.

“They did a very good race. They are fighting. They h𒅌ave this extra concentration, extra push. It was nice t🎀o see the battle of these two guys from the back!”

Turning to his own achievement, Marquez said:

“Of course, it was an important podium. We were looking for it for all the season. It ar🃏rived very late, but arrived in Honda🧔’s home circuit in a day that I took profit from the weather conditions,” he said.

“In the beginning I was struggling a little bit too🌠 much, but then I was trying to manage the tire. Then when the track was in real wet conditions, I started to attack and be faster and faster🌜.”

Despite such speed in the wet, Marquꦏe🃏z fully supported the decision not to restart.

"Race Direction was so clever today. They took the best decisions. Before the restart, check on the warm-up lap to see how was the visibility. They saw that with a lot of bikes it was impossible. And also the light was very low. It was raining le💙ss and there was less water on the track, but even like this, it was too much. They did a perfect job today."

The pair of third places at Motegi followed a competitive weekend in ꦏIndia, but Marquez played down hopes of a sudden change in form for Honda over tﷺhe remaining six rounds.

“No. I would like to say yes, but India and ꦛhere are [slo꧃w] corners, where I can take a risk on the brake point, turn and make a massive pickup to have a good acceleration," Marquez explained.

“We will arrive in Mandalika and there is a few corners where𝓀 you need to use the edge grip, the traction. It’s there where we are losing a lot. You cannot do anything because you just spin.

🍷“I will try to do my best as I do alwayไs, but it will be more difficult.”

Quizzed on whethe🐻r the 140th rostrum of his grand prix career might change his plans for 2024, amid the growing Gresini Ducati rumours, Marquez signed off by calling the Motegi result a ‘romantic podium’.

“No. Today’s podium or India’s result🉐, Misano, or Catalunya… I have a c༺lever mentality and I know what needs to happen, to do one way or the other one. We can say that today’s podium was a romantic podium.”