Martin takes impressive Misano Sprint Race victory, extending his championship lead over Bagnaia
Jorge Martin took a dominant and impressive Sprint race victory at Misano, extending his championship lead as VR46 duo of Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio crashed out.
Jorge Martin had a phenomenal start and took an early lead from fourth on the grid, overtaking Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi, who tumbled through the field, ending the first lap in eighth place after starting from third.
Fabio Di Giannantonio would fall down at Turn 14 on just the second lap, the Italian had been nursing a shoulder injury throughout the weekend, naming the triple right-hander before Turn 14 as one of the most challenging areas of the circuit, with the high speed right-hander’s evidently taking their toll on the VR46 Ducati rider.
Just a couple of laps later, Di Giannantonio’s teammate Marco Bezzecchi would also crash, this time at Turn 2 shortly after being overtaken by Marc Marquez. Later, on the same lap, Pedro Acosta would duel with Brad Binder through Turns 9 and 10, with the Spaniard making it through on his future teammate for fifth place on Lap 5.
With Marc Marquez behind, Jack Miller would outbrake himself thoroughly at Turn 8 on Lap 7, allowing the Spaniard to get underneath his KTM and take seventh place, despite the KTM suiting the track relatively well. Meanwhile, Bagnaia had been closing to Jorge Martin, taking around one tenth per lap out of the gap between them.
Marc Marquez would find himself overtaking Brad Binder at the end of Lap 9, the Spaniard going through on the other Factory KTM machine at the tough Turn 14 slow right-hander. Marquez had managed to recover from his difficult qualifying position, as he closed down the leading trio.
Late in the race, Enea Bastianini would close on Franco Morbidelli for third place, drawing alongside his fellow Italian rider on the final lap at Turn 8, as Morbidelli snuck back underneath Bastianini coming out of the corner, as Morbidelli would finish ahead of Bastianini to take a Sprint podium
Marc Marquez would overtake Pedro Acosta on the final lap at Turn 14, with Marquez coming home in fifth to ensure that Ducati took the entire Top 5 of the Sprint race.
Jorge Martin would come across the line to take a dominant victory, the championship leader looking unstoppable as he extended his championship lead to 26 points over Bagnaia.
MotoGP Misano Sprint Race – Results
1st Jorge Martin, Prima Pramac
2nd Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
3rd Franco Morbidelli, Prima Pramac
4th Enea Bastianini, Ducati
5th Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
6th Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
7th Brad Binder, Red Bull Factory KTM
8th Jack Miller, Red Bull Factory KTM
9th Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha
10th Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
11th Maverick Vinales, Aprilia
12th Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia
13th Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
14th Pol Espargaro, Red Bull Factory KTM
15th Miguel Oliveira, Trackhouse Racing
16th Augusto Fernandez, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
17th Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing
18th Luca Marini, Repsol Honda
19th Alex Rins, Yamaha
20th Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
DNF Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing
DNF Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing
DNF Stefan Bradl, HRC Test Team