‘Unbeatable’ Marquez breaks 1042-day drought

The Gressini Ducati rider blitzed qualifying to seal pole position for Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s grand prix by 0.840 over Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta.

Marquez controlled the 11-lap race from start to finish, leaving Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin to snatch second off Acosta who in turn finished third.

For Marquez, it was the first win since the Emilia Romagna Motorcycle Grand Prix in 2021 at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

“I feel super good,” said Marquez.

“It was a very good weekend until now but the race always is the race and you cannot do any mistakes.

“I started a little bit stiff on the front lap, but then we started to ride in a better way and we controlled the race but of course, the most important day is tomorrow.

“So today we celebrate, because it’s a sprint race, but it’s really important for us – the first victory in the sprint and I am, looking forward for tomorrow (Sunday), in front of these amazing people.”

Third place for Martin saw him vault to the lead of the MotoGP World Championship after title adversary Francesco Bagnaia wound up ninth and scored one point.

Ninth represents the worst finish for Bagnaia in a sprint race this year.

He started third but fell to sixth after a lacklustre start. He climbed back to fourth but ultimately wound up at the back end of the top 10.

“My feeling was very bad with the front, honestly,” Bagnaia lamented.

“The [tyre] pressure was perfect and temperature was perfect. Last year in Qatar… also happened to me on the Saturday, so similar, but it’s out of our control.”

Martin’s third place finish means he leads the World Championship by three points over Bagnaia.

“I wasn’t able to fight for a win because looking at the lap[s] that Marc did, [he] was unbeatable,” Bagnaia added.

“But my ambition and my potential was to fight against Jorge. All the weekend we have been very close in terms of performance and we just lost a possibility.”

Results: MotoGP, Aragon Motorcycle Grand Prix