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MotoGP French GP: Martin wins sprint from Marquez; Bagnaia retires

Obliterating the lap record to take pole in qualifying earlier on Saturday, Martin seized the holeshot effortlessly off the line and led all 13 laps of the sprint race at Le Mans.

Celebrating his 12th career sprint victory, Martin is now 28 points clear in the standings.

He headed Gresini Racing rider and chief rival for the second factory Ducati seat in 2025 Marc Marquez, who leaped from 13th on the grid and finished second after a late crash for VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales completed the podium, fending off a late charge from factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini to secure third – the Italian moving up to second in the championship.

As Martin blasted off the line to take the lead into the first sequence of corners at the start, second-placed Bagnaia went backwards as his factory Ducati pawed the air when he dumped the clutch and led to him being swallowed up by the pack.

The reigning world champion found himself in 14th after the opening melee and continued to go backwards as all pace deserted him.

On lap three, Bagnaia had a big snap under braking for Turn 7 and ran into the gravel, before parking up in his Ducati garage at the end of that tour for his third DNF of the year.

After crashing his number one bike in qualifying, Bagnaia took the start on his number two Desmosedici and was reported to have told his team he had no feeling on it.

Martin came under brief threat from Bezzecchi, who’d moved up to second ahead of Aprilia duo Aleix Espargaro and Vinales, and Marquez on the first lap, as the gap came down to just under six tenths at the end of the third tour.

But this push didn’t last long as Martin responded to rebuild his buffer to eight tenths next time around, eking it up to a second come the end of lap seven.

Behind, Marquez had carved his way into fourth ahead of Vinales into Turn 11 on lap one and was promoted to third soon after when Espargaro was handed a double long lap penalty for jumping the start.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Ducati (Photo by: Marc Fleury)

Once in third, Marquez chipped away at Bezzecchi’s gap over him and was putting some pressure on when the VR46 rider crashed at Turn 9 on lap 10.

Bezzecchi’s crash gifted Martin a 2.280s lead come the chequered flag, with Marquez a comfortable second have eased away from Vinales.

In the closing stages, Vinales came under pressure from a charging Bastianini on the remaining factory team Ducati, who started 10th.

But he held on by 0.624s, with Bastianini fourth ahead of Espargaro following his penalties.

Pedro Acosta survived a massive scare on the front end at the penultimate corner late on to finish as top KTM runner in sixth on his Tech3 GasGas-branded RC16.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46), Jack Miller (KTM) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) took the final sprint points down to ninth.

Home hero Fabio Quartararo could do no more than 10th on the struggling factory Yamaha, while compatriot Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) was 13th.

Yamaha’s Alex Rins crashed out on lap seven, with Honda’s Joan Mir suffering a tumble at the same corner earlier in the race when he ran wide onto the kerbs.

MotoGP Spanish GP - Race results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 13

-

      12
2 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 13

+2.280

2.280

2.280     9
3 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 13

+4.174

4.174

1.894     7
4 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 13

+4.798

4.798

0.624     6
5 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 13

+7.698

7.698

2.900     5
6 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 13

+9.185

9.185

1.487     4
7 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 13

+11.190

11.190

2.005     3
8 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 13

+11.516

11.516

0.326     2
9 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 13

+12.257

12.257

0.741     1
10 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 13

+12.699

12.699

0.442      
11 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 13

+13.492

13.492

0.793      
12 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 13

+15.578

15.578

2.086      
13 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 13

+16.439

16.439

0.861      
14 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 13

+16.816

16.816

0.377      
15 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 13

+16.969

16.969

0.153      
16 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 13

+19.123

19.123

2.154      
17 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 13

+23.618

23.618

4.495      
18 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 13

+27.854

27.854

4.236      
dnf Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 9

4 laps

    Retirement  
dnf Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 6

7 laps

    Retirement  
dnf Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 4

9 laps

    Retirement  
dnf Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 3

10 laps

    Retirement  

 

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