Jorge Martin wins Silverstone MotoGP sprint as Ducati struggles
Jorge Martin claimed a third sprint win of the season at the British Grand Prix
Jorge Martin led an Aprilia podium lockout in the sprint race at the MotoGP British Grand Prix, as the Ducati riders struggled for rostrum pace.
Having taken his second pole of the season on an Aprilia he feels more comfortable on, Jorge Martin led every lap of Saturday afternoon’s sprint.
Grabbing the holeshot, Martin resisted early pressure from Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura to eventually take the chequered flag 1.5s clear.
Gritting his teeth as he continues to recover from injury, Marco Bezzecchi came through to third on the sister factory team Aprilia.
Ducati, however, suffered a shocker, with Alex Marquez the best of the brand’s riders in fourth on his Gresini-run GP26.
He was almost three seconds from the podium, while Marc Marquez barely clung onto a point after suffering a dramatic drop in rear grip in the latter stages of the sprint.
Martin has extended his championship lead to 17 points over Ogura, while Bezzecchi is 27 points adrift in third.
Marquez’s problems have dropped him 29 points back in fourth, while Fabio Di Giannantonio is 31 down in fifth.
Martin, racing a new Aprilia aero package, led Ogura and VR46’s Di Giannantonio off the line at the start of the 10-lap race.
Di Giannantonio made one attempt at second with a move on Ogura at the Farm curve on the second lap, but ran wide and allowed the Trakchouse Aprilia rider back ahead.
Martin was able to extend his lead to over half a second as a result of this, before gradually extending this as the sprint wore on.
The 2024 world champion came under no pressure through to the chequered flag for his third sprint win of the season.
Ogura tallied up another podium, while Bezzecchi came from after the opening lap to finish third.
The Aprilia rider made a daring move on the inside of Marc Marquez on the way into Maggotts on lap six for fourth, before easing ahead of Di Giannantonio at Copse.
Alex Marquez would eventually get ahead of Di Giannantonio for fourth, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta, Honda’s Joan Mir and VR46’s Franco Morbidelli passed Marc Marquez in the final laps.
The seven-time world champion was just 0.027s from dropping out of the points at the chequered flag.
Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse) crashed out early on, while Gresini’s Iker Lecuona and LCR’s Cal Crutchlow also suffered falls.
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