Martín dominated Saturday’s MotoGP sprint in Le Mans, while the home team’s Quartararo crashed

Le Mans hosts the 1000th grand prix in the history of the World Championship of Road Motorcycles this weekend. A new addition in the form of Saturday’s short MotoGP category race in France was conquered by Jorge Martín on his Ducati after a great ride in the opening laps. Completing the podium after the 13-lap race were the previous winners of the other sprints this season, Brad Binder and Francesco Bagnaia. Fabio Quartararo disappointed the home fans after a crash that continues to deepen the former champion’s woes with Yamaha.

The triumph in the morning qualifying session, which determines the starting order for both MotoGP races this weekend, was nearly claimed by returning factory Honda rider Marc Márquez. However, he was overtaken in the final moments by reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia. He was joined on the front row by the aforementioned Márquez and Luca Marini on the satellite Ducati.

bagnaia, the 26-year-old leader of the World Championship standings, made an ideal start to the afternoon sprint after the lights went out. Behind the Italian, fellow Ducati rider Jorge Martín worked his way up from fifth to second. World champions Márquez and local hero Fabio Quartararo, on the other hand, dropped to fourth and 15th respectively.

Martín was not going to accept second position and pushed his teammate Bagnaia very vehemently. Meanwhile, Australian Jack Miller dropped from third place on the second lap. This allowed Martín to concentrate fully on Bagnaiu. Round four brought the inevitable and Martín moved into first place. The Spaniard immediately began to make rapid progress away from all the other riders.

Bagnaia immediately started to pick up the pace after losing his position as sprint leader and was gradually passed by Brad Binder and Marc Márquez. However, the second half of the sprint showed that the Italian was taking more of a tactical approach to the race.

Although he allowed his rivals to pass him, Bagnaia woke up in the closing laps and set an impressive pace. He returned Márquez’s manoeuvre from the first half of the sprint on lap 10 and then began to pass the eight-time champion.

The disappointed and indignant reaction from the spectators present was caused by the home team’s Quartararo. Although he climbed from fifteenth to eighth place, he did not take the points from Saturday’s short race back to the Yamaha garage. In fact, the Nice native crashed at high speed on the approach to Turn 9 on Lap 10.

Luca Marini provided the last key moment of Saturday’s sprint, as he took on Márquez in a battle for fourth place. Martín rode fearlessly to victory ahead of sprint specialists Binder and Bagnaia, who consolidated his position at the top of the standings.

He will again start Sunday’s grand prix from the top position, with winner Martín looking to repeat Saturday’s success from fifth on the grid.

USA MotoGP Grand Prix sprint results (13 laps = 54.4 km; top 10 only):

1. Jorge Martín (Sp., Ducati) 19::59.037
2. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +1.840
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) +2.632
4. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) +3.418
5. Marc Márquez (Span., Honda) +3.541
6. Johann Zarco (Fra., Ducati) +4.483
7. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) +5.224
8. Aleix Espargaró (Sp., Aprilia) +6.359
9. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) +8.336
10. Takaaki Nakagami (Jap., Honda) +9.439

2023 MotoGP rider standings (top 10 only):

1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 94
2. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 71
3. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) 68
4. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) 60
5. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) 54
6. Johann Zarco (Fra., Ducati) 50
7. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 49
8. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) 49
9. Álex Rins (Span., Honda) 47
10. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) 41

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