Ducati’s Marc Marquez continued his unbeaten record in sprints at the Aragon Grand Prix, dominating Saturday’s half-distance race from second on the grid.
While Marco Bezzecchi had appeared a stronger contender after topping both practice and qualifying, it was Marquez who shone when it counted, making a decisive move on his Aprilia rider at the start to claim the lead.
He eventually took the chequered flag by 1.1s, scoring his 20th career victory in a sprint race – the most of any rider in the championship. Gresini’s Alex Marquez finished second to complete a 1-2 for Ducati, while Bezzecchi eventually had to settle for third place.
At the start of the race, soft-shod Bezzecchi made the best launch of any rider on the front row, only to watch Marc Marquez, who started second, outbrake him into Turn 1. Alex Marquez also took full advantage of the situation, swooping around the Aprilia to snatch second position.
Bezzecchi tried to retaliate immediately but the two Ducati riders resisted his advances, leaving him in third place.
While the Italian managed to keep the pressure up on Alex Marquez for second over the next phase, race leader Marc Marquez began edging away at the front, extending his advantage to almost a second by the end of lap 5.
With Bezzecchi losing ground and Alex Marquez also failing to put up a fight, Marc Marquez went unchallenged in the second half of the race, with the 12 points he scored elevating him to third place in the championship.
Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Alex Marquez also managed to keep the injured Bezzecchi at bay to score second, taking away important championship points from one of Ducati’s biggest rivals.
Behind the leading trio, Pedro Acosta finished a strong fourth for KTM, having started sixth on the grid. The Spaniard took advantage of an early battle between championship leader Jorge Martin and Raul Fernandez to grab fourth, where he would eventually finish.
While factory Aprilia rider Martin briefly passed Acosta after outduelling Fernandez, a mistake on lap 5 sent him back to fifth place. Like Bezzecchi, Martin had also opted for the soft rear tyre.
The returning Fermin Aldeguer put together an impressive ride from 11th on the grid, passing LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira late on for sixth place.
British GP winner Fernandez struggled for speed and dropped to eighth place by the end of the race, while LCR’s Johann Zarco grabbed the final championship point in ninth after an impressive performance on his MotoGP return.
Jack Miller was Yamaha’s highest-placed finisher in 10th, ahead of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and Yamaha stablemates Alex Rins and Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The sprint race saw just three retirements. Luca Marini was first to exit the race after crashing on the opening lap, with Fabio di Giannantonio joining the list with his own incident on lap two. Just before midway through the race, Fabio Quartararo was forced to park up his Yamaha after suffering a spectacular engine blow out, leaving plumes of smoke behind him.
MotoGP Aragon GP – Sprint race results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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