Marquez Wins Aragon GP Sprint race, Martin regains championship lead over Bagnaia

Marc Marquez won the Aragon GP Sprint race on Saturday, a dominant victory as the rest of the field struggled for grip, with some riders crashing out of the race.

It would be a chaotic start to the race, with Francesco Bagnaia having a poor start and sinking to sixth place with a suspected ride height device problem. Aleix Espargaro would have a similar issue, and made contact with Fabio Di Giannantonio at Turn 1, the Spaniard being thrown to the ground.

Marc Marquez would open his lead early on to nearly an entire second, as Jorge Martin and Pedro Acosta duelled behind. Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli would crash in unrelated incidents at the corkscrew corner of Turns 8 and 9, with Maverick Vinales also falling down the order.

Bagnaia would come under a lot of pressure from Brad Binder after running wide at Turn 5, losing a couple of places to Alex Marquez and Miguel Oliveira. Bagnaia’s Ducati Desmosedici GP24 seemed to struggle with corner entry, running wide multiple times. Riders have complained about grip levels earlier on this weekend, with some corners particularly proving difficult to navigate.

Enea Bastianini would eventually come through and pass the duo of Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia for seventh place, as Bagnaia’s struggles continued. The rear tyre of Bagnaia’s Ducati seemed to burn up exceptionally quick,

Quartararo would manage to overtake Bagnaia on the final lap at Turn 5, with Marco Bezzecchi eventually closing down on his fellow Italian, almost overtaking the reigning champion in the final sector, as Bagnaia just managed to finish ninth, taking the final point on offer, but losing his championship lead to Jorge Martin, who now leads by three points.

Pedro Acosta managed to finish on the podium, another top three finish at one of his home circuits, as the KTM machine looked far more comfortable around the Aragon circuit, with Binder managing to finish sixth.

Evidently, the Aragon circuit suits a mixture of power and bike agility, with the Ducati’s dominating the speed traps, but the Aprilia’s and KTM bikes quicker through the more technical areas of the circuit.

Marc Marquez would eventually come home to take one of the more dominant race wins, with this victory adding to his tally of topping every single session in the MotoGP Aragon weekend so far. Jorge Martin would take another podium finish, his 10th Sprint podium of the season, as the Spaniard now leads the championship by just three points, as we head into the Aragon Grand Prix on Sunday.

MotoGP Aragon – Sprint Race Results

1st Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
2nd Jorge Martin, Prima Pramac
3rd Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
4th Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
5th Miguel Oliveira, Trackhouse Racing
6th Brad Binder, Red Bull Factory KTM
7th Enea Bastianini, Ducati
8th Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha
9th Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
10th Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing
11th Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing
12th Augusto Fernandez, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
13th Jack Miller, Red Bull Factory KTM
14th Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
15th Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing
16th Luca Marini, Repsol Honda
17th Alex Rins, Yamaha
18th Joan Mir, Repsol Honda
19th Maverick Vinales, Aprilia
DNF Franco Morbidelli, Prima Pramac
DNF Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
DNF Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia

MotoGP returns on Sunday for the Grand Prix, starting at 13:00 UK Time.

Featured Image: Red Bull Content Pool