Martin wins Spain MotoGP Sprint crash-fest

Jack Miller crashed early and while he did make the chequered flag on his Red Bull KTM, it was in 14th position and hence he earned no championship points.

Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) had taken his first MotoGP pole position on anything other than a Honda but Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) launched from Row 2 into the lead when the lights went out.

Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) took up second and then went down Binder’s inside at Turn 9, before Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) crashed at Turn 8 and Miller at Turn 13, the latter having qualified 15th.

With Martin threatening to break away from the field, Marc Marquez overtook Binder on Lap 2 at Turn 9 but that pass triggered major consequences.

Binder fired his KTM back down the inside of Marc Marquez at Turn 13, taking both wide and allowing Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) to briefly snatch second place.

With the pack tightly bunched as a result, Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina VR46 Ducati) made a big lunge at the other end of pit straight but then he and Bagnaia (Ducati Team) converged on the same apex, causing contact which put the two-time world champion on the deck and out of the race.

The incident was investigated in-race but no further action would be taken, with the net result being Martin leading by more than a second, from Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez, Binder, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Team), Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3), and Bezzecchi.

Bezzecchi then went wide at Turn 6 on Lap 3, letting team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio through, but the latter crashed out at the end of the lap.

Marc Marquez began to catch Martin at the head of the field and, on Lap 7, a mistake by the Pramac rider at Turn 7 meant #89 was picked off by #93 at Turn 9.

On Lap 9, Alex Marquez, Binder, and Bastianini all went down separately at Turn 5, before Marc Marquez crashed at Turn 9.

Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) had inherited third as a result of all of that, until he crashed a lap later at Turn 5.

That left Martin with a big lead over Acosta, while Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) was running third from 23rd on the grid, and under attack from Red Bull KTM wildcard Dani Pedrosa.

That was how they took the chequered flag, before Quartararo was among five riders issued eight-second penalties for minimum tyre pressure breaches.

Pedrosa is thus officially third, from Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Ducati), and Quartararo.

Marc Marquez got all the way back to seventh at the chequered flag, even after serving a position drop penalty when he pushed Alex Rins (Repsol Honda) wide during his fightback, and was classified sixth.

Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GasGas Tech3), Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Aprilia), and Mir rounded out the points, and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu LCR Honda) finishing 10th.

Johann Zarco (Castrol LCR Honda) was 11th after crashing from fifth at the final corner of the race and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) was 12th after a tyre pressure penalty dropped him from sixth.

Filling 13th through 16th after remounting from various crashes were Di Giannantonio, Miller, Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha), and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing).

The other nine failed to finish due to crashes.

Martin now leads the championship by a 29-point margin over Acosta.

Race results: Sprint race

Race winner: 12 laps

Riders’ championship