In a chaotic sprint race, Pramac’s Jorge Martin extended his MotoGP championship lead after a crash for Marc Marquez gifted him the Spanish Grand Prix sprint victory in a race that saw 15 fallers.
Martin leapt into the lead on the opening lap but was quickly reeled in and passed by poleman Marquez, who looked on course for a first Gresini Ducati win.
But on lap nine of 12, Marquez fell off at Turn 9, just seconds after third to fifth-placed Alex Marquez, Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder slid off at Turn 5.
In all, 16 riders out of 25 made it to the chequered flag, but everyone from 12th down also suffered crashes at some stage.
Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia was involved in a collision with Marco Bezzecchi and Brad Binder at Turn 1 on lap three which took the factory Ducati rider out.
Through all the chaos, Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta found himself in second, while Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo rose from 23rd on the grid to complete the podium.
However, Fabio Quartararo has lost his third-place finish in the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix due to a tyre pressure penalty, promoting Dani Pedrosa to his first rostrum since 2017.
In the feature race, reigning MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia won his third successive Spanish Grand Prix as championship leader Jorge Martin crashed out.
Home favourite Martin lost control of his bike on the 11th lap, allowing Italy’s Bagnaia to secure victory following a back-and-forth tussle with six-time champion Marc Marquez, who finished second.
Italy’s Marco Bezzecchi came third at the Circuito de Jerez. Pramac Racing’s Martin, 26, remains the leader in the overall standings, 17 points in front of Ducati’s Bagnaia.
