Jorge Martin took the MotoGP sprint win in French GP with Brad Binder in second from Francesco Bagnaia after a gritty fight.

It was sunny conditions for the MotoGP Sprint in French GP at the 1000th grand prix weekend as pole-sitter Francesco Bagnaia led the way in his Ducati from fast-starters Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin and KTM’s Jack Miller in the Top 3.

Honda’s Marc Marquez dropped to fourth from VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini with KTM’s Brad Binder up to sixth from Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro in the Top 8 points places, with VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi just outside in ninth.

As Bagnaia led Martin closely, Miller crashed out as Binder cleared Marini to get on the tail of Marquez in fourth. The fight for lead soon ensued and Martin eventually got through Bagnaia to take the MotoGP sprint lead as the Italian defended from Marquez and Binder.

As the duo got into the fight for second, Binder sprung up to clear both and take second, leaving them in the fight for third. Marquez got through Bagnaia which allowed Marini through too. But the Ducati rider came back to retake fourth.

After an early good running from Marquez and Espargaro, both started to lose places as Pramac’s Johann Zarco climbed up to sixth from Bezzecchi and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in the Top 8, with Espargaro dropping to ninth from LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.

There were couple of crashes on different laps with Tech3 GASGAS’ Augusto Fernandez doing so first, followed by teammate Jonas Folger. At the closing stages, Quartararo crashed out from eighth, allowing Espargaro to the final point.

With Martin and Binder checking out in the Top 2, Bagnaia came back on Marquez to retake third with Marini pressing the Honda rider and taking fourth from him. The Spaniard then had Zarco and Bezzecchi close behind in the fight for fifth.

At the front, Martin had enough buffer to win the MotoGP sprint in French GP from Binder, with Bagnaia rounding the Top 3 from Marini, Marquez, Zarco, Bezzecchi and Espargaro in the Top 8, as the stewards noted an incident between the Spaniard and Marquez.

The incident was reviewed post-race but no penalty was applied, as Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales ended up ninth after a scrappy run with Nakagami rounding the Top 10 ahead of teammate Alex Rins.

Here’s how MotoGP qualifying in French GP panned out

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