Marc Marquez one of 15 crashers as chaos reigns in Spain, before another dose post-race as penalties shake up the podium.
For Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), it was a smooth Tissot Sprint at the office at the Gran Premio Estrella Galicia 0,0. But behind the #89, who extended his Championship lead, chaos reigned in Spain. 15 riders crashed, all ok. Most or many remounted. Rookie Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) took second and made his first visit to the Sprint rostrum in front of a rapturous crowd. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) initially celebrated there too, gaining an unreal amount of positions, before a tyre pressure penalty demoted him to fifth. And that promoted MotoGP™ Legend and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing wildcard Dani Pedrosa to third.
Polesitter Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) crashed out the lead but remounted and then went on a charge, taking no prisoners. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) slid out in three separate incidents but in perfect sync. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), meanwhile, got the short end of a sandwich between Binder and Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), deemed a racing incident but with the other two continuing. COTA winner Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) also went down, and the list didn’t end there as a largely dry track, but not perfectly just yet, caught out some big big names. But let’s rewind to the start of a dramatic and chaotic Sprint.
As the lights went out, Marc Marquez bolted left to cover Bezzecchi and Martin, but Binder nailed it from P4 and nabbed the holeshot instead. The KTM put the hammer down immediately too, gaining some breathing space ahead of Martin, Marc Marquez and a storming start from Gresini teammate Alex Marquez. By Lap 2 Martin was back on the tail of Binder, however, attacking for the lead immediately.
Marc Marquez was next to strike, seeing the Prima Pramac machine starting to pull the pin and elbowing Binder out the way to give chase. But it wasn’t job done quite yet, with Binder replying at the final corner, pushing the #93 wide and then having his own moment on the exit, allowing both Gresini machines back through.
The drama then started really heating up. Three into one doesn’t go, and as Bezzecchi divebombed Bagnaia at Turn 1, in fairness getting it stopped pretty well, the reigning Champion was pushed a little wide. So Binder went for the gap, but Bezzecchi had gathered it up, leaving Bagnaia sandwiched as the #1 got punted out of action, rider ok but left on the sidelines. It seemed like the big drama of the day at the time, but it was only the half of it.
The next was Binder, Alex Marquez and Bastianini as they all slid out, leaving Acosta in third after he’d caught the group following his own misadventures in the early stages. Up ahead though, there was some distance to #MM93 and even more to Martin, with those two looking set to duel it out.
The gap from #89 to #93 had been coming down, and fast. Marc Marquez was on a charge and one small error from Martin had seen him lose the momentum with six laps to go, giving the Gresini a chance to strike. And it didn’t go begging, with the eight-time World Champion taking over in front. Martin would try to respond, but not long after that, he needed to no longer as the number 93 in the lead suddenly slid off, leaving Martin in free air in the lead on home turf. Acosta was at a distance, and now the race was on for the #89 to hold on. For Marc Marquez, the race was on to recover as many positions as possible.
Viñales then slid off, adding another key contender to the list, before the spotlight went back to Marquez as his charge started elbowing riders behind out the way, including a nudge of former Repsol Honda teammate Joan Mir, for which the #93 was then given a drop position penalty, quickly served. Meanwhile Quartararo was on his own march, gaining 14 positions in the first two laps and now in podium contention as he’d kept the hammer down, but he had close company from Pedrosa.
As Martin crossed the line up ahead, Acosta followed him home at around three seconds back in a Spanish 1-2 on home turf, and it’s a first for both – Jerez win for Martin, and Sprint podium for Acosta. But behind, the battle for third went to the wire as Pedrosa homed in on Quartararo, after Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) proved another faller, forced to forfeit that battle. The #26 shadowed the Yamaha ahead round the final lap but couldn’t find a gap, forced to settle for fourth before that post-race penalty for Quartararo. Then, it was that historic P3 as the Frenchman’s 8s penalty demoted him to fifth.
In the aftermath of such high drama, Martin remains supreme at the top… but Acosta is now second in the standings and 29 points down. Start the Jaws music for Sunday? Maybe. But when the lights go out for the Grand Prix race, all that pace that went begging in the Sprint will be reset and reloaded for a serious cast of challengers… so don’t miss showtime at 14:00 (UTC +2)!
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