The Spanish rider Jorge Martin (Ducati) won this Saturday’s sprint race of the Grand Prix de France, fifth round of the MotoGP World Championship, who was not counting on the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) due to an injury.
Martin, who started fifth on the grid, crossed the line with a time of 19.59.037 minutes, leaving South African Brad Binder (KTM) in second place in 1.840 seconds, with Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in third place. at 2,632 seconds.
Martin took the lead on the third lap of this shorter race, one of the first for the season, putting him a safe distance behind the rest of the competition.
This was the Spanish driver’s first victory in a sprint race, after winning the 2022 Styrian GP.
Francesco Bagnaia, leader of the championship at the start of this race, the 1000th of the championship, took some time to get the hard tires up to the ideal temperature and lost positions, especially after a collision with Spaniard Marc Márquez (Honda), who started at his side, from second on the grid.
Bagnaia dropped to fifth place, but would regain a podium place four laps from the end of this shorter race, which serves as a taster for the main race, to be held on Sunday.
However, the reigning world champion regained his focus and pace and overtook compatriot Luca Marini (Ducati) and Márquez.
“There were still a few laps to go,” he said at the end, getting even closer to Brad Binder, who had overtaken ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia and Marc Márquez at the same time.
The KTM rider finished on the middle step of the podium and moved up to second in the championship.
The leader remains Bagnaia, but now with 94 points, to Binder’s 71.
The Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati), who only finished seventh today, dropped to third place with 68.
On the way was Australian Jack Miller (KTM), who crashed on the first lap when he was in third.
Miguel Oliveira did not participate in this race due to an injury to his left shoulder sustained in the previous race, the GP of Spain.
Sunday is the main race.
Source: DN
