Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) finished 12th in the sprint race of the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix, his debut race on the world calendar, in New Delhi.
The Aprilia rider, who started from 18th position, finished the 11 laps of the Buddh circuit 15.096 seconds behind the winner, Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati), who left champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in second, 1.389 seconds, with the Spaniard Marc Márquez (Honda) in third place, at 2,405.
Martin, who started from second position, became the first driver to win two consecutive sprint races after triumphing in San Marino two weeks ago, where he also won the feature race.
Miguel Oliveira set the ninth fastest time in Q1, the first stage of qualifying, but took advantage of the absence of Spaniard Alex Márquez (Ducati) in the race, due to an injury sustained during qualifying, to gain a place on the grid obtain.
The youngest of the Márquez brothers fell at the end of the session and broke three ribs, causing him to miss this weekend’s race. He will also be absent from the next race, in Japan.
Today’s sprint started an hour and a half later than initially planned due to rain falling on the Buddh circuit, near New Delhi, raising concerns about the safety of the track among the riders.
The World Championship organization provided an extraordinary 15-minute free practice during which the drivers could get used to the wet surface, but the race was actually at stake due to the proximity of the concrete walls to the asphalt in some parts of the track. .
However, the surface started to dry out and led to another postponement in preparation for the race on dry terrain.
The start was marked by the crash of Luca Marini (Ducati), Marco Bezzechi (Ducati), Pol Espargaró (GasGas), Stefan Bradl (Honda) and Augusto Fernandez (GasGas).
Miguel Oliveira jumped to 11th place, but had to give up a position due to overtaking with yellow flags, ultimately losing two more places to Bezzecchi and Fábio DiGiannantonio (Ducati). Shortly afterwards he moved up to 13th, with Joan Mir (Honda) crashing out on the fourth lap. I would finish twelfth.
Martin, on the other hand, set a strong pace from the start and gained a safe lead over the competition, with Bagnaia always finishing in second place.
Marc Márquez guaranteed his return to the podium after already finishing third in the opening race of the championship, in Portugal.
With these results, Bagnaia maintains the lead in the championship, with 292 points, 33 more than Martin, who is second.
Marco Bezzecchi, who started from pole position, still recovered from his initial fall to fifth place, third in the championship.
The Indian GP is the 13th race of the 20 scheduled season.
The main race takes place on Sunday.
Source: DN
