MotoGP French GP: Martin dominates sprint race, Quartararo crashes out

Pramac Ducati rider Martin overhauled poleman and championship leader Francesco Bagnaia on lap four of 13 and instantly put eight tenths between them.

As Bagnaia squabbled with Marc Marquez, Martin eased into the distance and took the chequered flag 1.8 seconds clear of KTM’s Brad Binder.

Bagnaia completed the podium after fending off VR46’s Luca Marini, with Marquez fifth on his racing return.

Off the line, Bagnaia got his factory Ducati into the Dunlop chicane first ahead of Martin, Jack Miller, Marini and Marquez – who slumped from second on the grid.

Marquez quickly disposed of Marini into Turn 7 to move up to fourth as the leading five quickly pulled away from the chasing pack.

Miller crashed out of the race on lap two when he lost the front of his KTM at Turn 7, promoting Marquez up to third.

At the same time, Binder put a hard move on Marini into Turn 8 to take fourth away from the Italian.

Martin kept Bagnaia at arm’s length at the front and on lap four made his decisive move into the Dunlop chicane.

The Pramac rider ensured Bagnaia had no way to retaliate, and exiting Turn 8 moments later he blasted eight tenths away as Bagnaia’s pace suddenly dropped.

Binder mugged Marquez and Bagnaia on the following tour to take second, though by this time Martin had streaked 1.4s clear in the lead.

Marquez capitalised on Bagnaia’s slowing pace to take third at the Dunlop chicane, the Honda rider throwing his RC213V up the inside into the first part and slamming the door on the way out to keep the Ducati behind.

Bagnaia threw his hand in the air in frustration at Marquez’s aggression, but the Italian would take revenge on lap 10 as he eased on through back into third.

With Miller crashing out, as well as Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez, and Alex Marquez dropping out of the top 10 after Maverick Vinales forced him off track trying to recover from an off at Turn 9, Quartararo found himself in eighth in the closing stages.

But he crashed on the way into Turn 9 on lap 10 to compound his difficult Saturday in front of his home crowd.

Martin came under no threat through to the chequered flag, with Binder scoring back-to-back sprint podiums for KTM ahead of Bagnaia.

Marini got the better of Marquez late on to steal fourth, with Johann Zarco sixth on his Pramac Ducati.

Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) and Aprilia duo Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales took the final points down to ninth, with Takaaki Nakagami completing the top 10 for LCR Honda.

Bagnaia’s championship lead has been cut to 23 points heading into Sunday’s grand prix, with Binder now his nearest challenger having leaped ahead of Bezzecchi in the standings.

MotoGP French GP - Sprint race results:

Cla	#	Rider		Bike	Gap	Points
1	89	Jorge Martin		Ducati		12
2	33	Brad Binder		KTM	1.840	9
3	1	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	2.632	7
4	10	Luca Marini		Ducati	3.418	6
5	93	Marc Marquez		Honda	3.541	5
6	5	Johann Zarco		Ducati	4.483	4
7	72	Marco Bezzecchi		Ducati	5.224	3
8	41	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	6.359	2
9	12	Maverick Viñales		Aprilia	8.336	1
10	30	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	9.439
11	42	Alex Rins		Honda	12.388
12	49	Fabio Di Giannantonio		Ducati	14.125
13	21	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	15.121
14	36	Joan Mir		Honda	15.383
15	73	Alex Marquez		Ducati	15.591
16	9	Danilo Petrucci		Ducati	19.415
17	32	Lorenzo Savadori		Aprilia	26.992
18	20	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha
19	94	Jonas Folger		KTM
20	37	Augusto Fernandez		KTM
21	43	Jack Miller		KTM
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