Jorge Martin comes through from fifth to win MotoGP sprint in Qatar GP to cut down on points as Fabio di Giannantonio was P2 from Luca Marini.
It was a clean start from VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini from pole in MotoGP sprint in Qatar GP as Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez jumped to second. Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin barged his way through Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia but had a wide moment to drop back.
Bagnaia was third from Honda’s Marc Marquez as Martin dropped to fifth ahead of teammate Johann Zarco, with Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio dropped to seventh from second on the grid as KTM’s Brad Binder was eighth and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales ninth.
There was a crash in the midfield involving Ducati’s Enea Bastianini, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira where Bastianini managed to continue on. The fight intensified at the front where Martin fought back to pass Marquez.
He then again barged his way through Bagnaia for third as Bagnaia was fourth from di Giannantonio who regained places. Binder was sixth from Vinales where Zarco dropped to eighth after a wide moment from M Marquez saw him drop outside the points.
At the front, A Marquez started to press on Marini, but Martin came on him to take second, as di Giannantonio passed Bagnaia for fourth. He then had a back and forth fight against teammate A Marquez which he won to move up to third.
Bagnaia remained fifth from Vinales who cleared Binder for sixth as Zarco was eighth from Marquez who was back in points but Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was close behind him. The battled for the lead continued as Martin cleared Marini to take the lead.
Marini then lost to di Giannantonio who started to push Martin for the lead and victory but there were not enough laps to push enough as Martin took the MotoGP sprint win in Qatar GP to cut down Bagnaia’s points lead and take the fight to Valencia GP.
A Marquez dropped off from Marini with Bagnaia not pressuring him enough as well to be third, fourth and fifth as Vinales was sixth from Binder as Quartararo and GASGAS Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez passed Zarco and Marquez to be eighth and ninth in points places.
Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1725931882766811179?s=20
