Jorge Martin leads historic Aprilia 1-2-3 after fightback in French MotoGP

Jorge Martin grabbed a maiden Aprilia victory after beating Marco Bezzecchi at the MotoGP French Grand Prix, as Ai Ogura scored his first podium.

The 2024 world champion scored a second sprint win of the season on Saturday at Le Mans, after charging from eighth on the grid to take the lead in the opening corners.

He faced an uphill battle to replicate this on Sunday, however, after he got mired in seventh in the opening stages as Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi led the way.

But Jorge Martin’s pace strengthened as the race went on, and on lap 25 of 27, he scythed past Bezzecchi to take the lead.

The Spaniard led Bezzecchi to the chequered flag by 0.477s, with the pair split by just a single point in the championship going to the Catalan Grand Prix next week.

Trackhouse Aprilia rider Ai Ogura came from eighth on the grid to third at the chequered flag, to score his first MotoGP podium and complete an historic maiden Aprilia 1-2-3.

Ogura also becomes the first Japanese rider to stand on the rostrum since 2012.

Polesitter Pecco Bagnaia threatened Bezzecchi early on for the lead, but would ultimately crash out while running second on lap 16.

Bezzecchi grabbed the holeshot from second on the grid ahead of KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who would soon be passed by the fast-starting Fabio Quartararo on the factory Yamaha.

Bagnaia was shuffled back to fifth briefly, but was back up to second at the start of lap seven after carving past Acosta into the Dunlop chicane.

Bezzecchi’s lead stood at around 0.8s, but Bagnaia was able to cut this down to under half a second over the next few tours.

However, this was as close as Bagnaia was able to get, as Bezzecchi kept enough in reserve to fend him off.

Behind, Martin’s pace was improving after his sluggish start, with the Aprilia rider promoted to third when Bagnaia crashed at Dunlop on lap 16 of 27.

Martin then got ahead of Acosta two tours late to begin his chase of Bezzecchi.

Bezzecchi’s lead was well over a second when Martin moved into second place, but was just 0.8s at the start of lap 21.

That gap continued to reduce, with Martin launching his move for the lead at Dunlop on lap 25, with Bezzecchi unable to defend against his team-mate.

Martin would not be challenged as he scored his first MotoGP Sunday victory since Indonesia in 2024.

Bezzecchi was second, with Ogura chasing him down in third to complete Aprilia’s first podium lockout.

Fabio Di Giannantonio was the leading Ducati for VR46 in fourth, after he snatched a spot from Acosta at the penultimate corner on the last lap.

Quartararo was a season-best sixth ahead of Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini, while Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez, Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer and Honda’s Luca Marini completed the top 10.

LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco was 11th, with Alex Rins 12th on the factory Yamaha ahead of Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, while VR46’s Franco Morbidelli and Pramac’s Jack Miller scored the final points.

Jonas Folger was 16th on his racing return for Tech3.

Spanish Grand Prix winner Alex Marquez crashed out early on, with KTM’s Brad Binder, Honda’s Joan Mir and LCR’s Diogo Moreira also falling out of the race.

Full 2026 MotoGP French Grand Prix results