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MotoGP Indian GP

MotoGP Indian GP: Martin dominates chaotic sprint, Marquez third

Jorge Martin claimed a dominant MotoGP victory in the Indian Grand Prix sprint race, as Marc Marquez returned to the podium and the VR46 duo came to blows at the start.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Following a long delay to help dry up the starting grid, the 11-lap sprint got underway just after 5pm local time at the Buddh International Circuit, with VR46's Marco Bezzecchi starting from pole ahead of Pramac's Martin and team-mate Luca Marini.

Martin got the best launch of the trio and immediately grabbed the lead, while Bezzecchi was trying to consolidate second when his team-mate Marini got the braking wrong for the tricky Turn 1, slamming into the back of his Ducati and sending him off the track.

This gave Martin some clear air as he navigated the opening right-hander, with championship leader Francesco Bagnaia moving to second on the factory Ducati ahead of factory Honda duo Joan Mir and Marc Marquez.

Martin was already a second clear of the chasing pack by the end of lap 2, with his Pramac-run Ducati clearly quicker than the works-entered GP22 of Bagnaia.

Martin would pull out a lead of nearly three seconds by the middle part of the race but eased off on the final lap to take the chequered flag by 1.4s.

It was Martin's second consecutive sprint race win following his victory at Misano earlier this month and helps him make further inroads into Bagnaia's championship lead.

Bagnaia initially came under pressure from the Honda of Marquez, who had cleared his team-mate Mir early on, but the Spaniard couldn't keep up the pace in the second half of the race, allowing the Ducati rider to hold on to second position.

Third place nevertheless represented Marquez's second sprint podium of the year after finishing third in the first-ever sprint in Portugal.

Marquez's team-mate Mir crashed out of the race at Turn 3 on lap 4, allowing Binder to claim a respectable fourth for KTM. Binder had closed in on Marquez during the middle parts of the race, but the Honda rider was able to fend off his advances, forcing Binder to settle for fourth.

After being hit by team-mate Marini at the start and dropping to the rear of the pack, Bezzecchi pulled off a heroic comeback, getting back into the points on lap 6 and passing the lead Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo late on to grab an incredible fifth.

Behind Quartararo, Jack Miller also recovered from a poor qualifying like his team-mate Binder to claim seventh, while Aprilia's Maverick Vinales and RNF rider Raul Fernandez completed the list of points scorers in eighth and ninth respectively.

Vinales' team-mate Aleix Espargaro endured a nightmare race, dropping to 13th on the opening lap before slumping to 18th with another error. His race came to an early end when he suffered a crash at the final corner with just a few laps to run.

Pramac's Johann Zarco also couldn't finish the race after a slow crash at Turn 3, while Stefan Bradl (LCR) and Pol Espargaro (Tech3) were among the first to retire, with Bradl slamming into the back of Espargaro at the start in a crash that was nearly identical to that of the VR46 duo.

 
 
         
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 11 -       12
2 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 11 +1.389 1.389     9
3 Spain M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93 Honda 11 +2.405 1.016     7
4 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 11 +2.904 0.499     6
5 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 11 +3.266 0.362     5
6 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 11 +4.327 1.061     4
7 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 11 +7.172 2.845     3
8 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 11 +8.798 1.626     2
9 Spain R. Fernández RNF Racing 25 Aprilia 11 +10.530 1.732     1
10 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49 Ducati 11 +10.826 0.296      
11 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 11 +11.456 0.630      
12 Portugal M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88 Aprilia 11 +15.415 3.959      
13 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 11 +17.437 2.022      
14 Italy M. Pirro Ducati Team 51 Ducati 11 +23.714 6.277      
15 Italy F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21 Yamaha 11 +36.468 12.754      
dnf Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 7       Accident  
dnf France J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5 Ducati 6       Retirement  
dnf Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 3       Accident  
dnf Italy L. Marini Team VR46 10 Ducati 0       Accident  
dnf Spain P. Espargaro Tech 3 44 KTM 0       Accident  
dnf Germany S. Bradl Team LCR 6 Honda 0       Accident  

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