The Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) took 12th place this Saturday in the sprint race of the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix, his first 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, the Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati), who left the champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in second position, 1.389 seconds behind. , with the Spanish Marc Márquez (Honda) in third place, with 2,405.
Starting from second position, Martin became the first driver to win two consecutive sprint races, having triumphed two weeks ago in San Marino, where he also won the main race.
Miguel Oliveira was ninth in Q1, the first phase of qualifying, but took advantage of the absence of the Spanish Alex Márquez (Ducati) from the race, due to an injury suffered during qualifying, to gain a position on the grid.
The youngest of the Márquez brothers fell at the end of the session and fractured three ribs, missing this weekend’s race. He will not be present at the next race either, in Japan.
This Saturday’s sprint began an hour and a half later than initially planned, due to rain on the Buddh circuit, near New Delhi, which raised concerns among runners about the safety of the track.
The World Championship organization planned an extraordinary 15-minute free practice session for the drivers to get used to the wet surface, but the race was called into question due to the proximity of the concrete walls to the asphalt in some areas of the track. .
However, the surface began to dry and caused another postponement, to prepare for the race on dry ground.
The start was marked by the falls of Luca Marini (Ducati), Marco Bezzechi (Ducati), Pol Espargaró (GasGas), Stefan Bradl (Honda) and Augusto Fernández (GasGas).
Miguel Oliveira jumped to 11th place, but was forced to give up a position due to an overtake with yellow flags, ending up losing two more places, against Bezzecchi and Fábio DiGiannantonio (Ducati). Shortly after he moved up to 13th position, with Joan Mir (Honda) crashing out on the fourth lap. He would finish 12th.
Martin, for his part, set a strong pace from the start, establishing a secure lead over the competition, with Bagnaia always in second position.
Marc Márquez guaranteed his return to the podium after having already finished third in the inaugural sprint race of the championship, in Portugal.
With these results, Bagnaia maintains the lead in the championship, with 292 points, 33 more than Martín, who is second.
Marco Bezzecchi, who started from pole, still recovered from his initial fall to fifth place, third in the championship.
The Indian GP is the thirteenth race of the planned twentieth season.
The main race takes place on Sunday.
Source: TSF
