Marc Marquez cruises to Hungary MotoGP sprint win over Pedro Acosta
Marc Marquez scored a third sprint win of the season in dominant fashion at Balaton Park
Marc Marquez eased to his third sprint win of the 2026 MotoGP season after leading from pole on Saturday at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Ducati rider is still below full fitness following surgery on his right shoulder last month.
Doubting that he could repeat his race-winning success from 12 months ago at Balaton Park, Marc Marquez proved himself wrong on Saturday in the 13-lap sprint.
After snatching pole earlier in the day, the reigning world champion beat Pedro Acosta by 1.548s, having been well over two seconds clear of the KTM at one stage.
Acosta came under no threat in second, while championship leader Marco Bezzecchi has increased his advantage over Jorge Martin in third.
Marquez grabbed the holeshot from pole position at the start of the 13-lap contest, with Acosta slotting into second ahead, as Bezzecchi rose to third from sixth on the grid.
After just two laps of racing, Marquez had already built up a second to Acosta, and continued to swell this advantage over the next few laps.
Acosta ultimately put Marquez’s lead under no threat, with the Ducati rider extending his advantage to over two seconds before easing off in the closing lap.
Marquez also set the only 1m37s lap in that sprint, posting a 1m37.901s on lap two, with Acosta’s best a 1m38.332s.
The battle for third raged early between Gresini Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer and Bezzecchi, though the latter held his ground.
Aldeguer’s podium hopes were then dashed on the fourth tour when he nearly crashed at Turn 9 and dropped to fifth.
The Gresini rider was quicker than both Bezzecchi and Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez ahead of him, but could do nothing to advance on fifth.
Jorge Martin was sixth after an early off on the sister factory Aprilia, while Diogo Moreira was seventh on the LCR Honda.
Enea Bastianini was eighth for Tech3 KTM, while Pecco Bagnaia took the final point in ninth on the sister factory team Ducati.
Fabio Di Giannantonio suffered another poor start on the VR46 Ducati and ended up out of the points in 10th.
Bezzecchi is now 20 points clear of Martin in the standings, with Marquez 97 adrift in seventh after his win.
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