MOTO GP

Jorge Martín postpones the title to Sunday and Marc Márquez sneaks onto the podium

The Spanish Jorge Martín(on the front bike) has taken victory in the Sprint of the Valencian Community Grand Prix, thus postponing the outcome of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship to the final Sunday. The Pramac rider won ahead of the South African Brad Binder and the Spanish Marc Márquez, with the Italian Pecco Bagnaia fifth to reach the last race with a 14-point lead.

Pecco Bagnaia came out better than Maverick Viñales with Johann Zarco third opening up to let Jorge Martín pass, who was overtaken by Brad Binder. In turn two Viñales overtook Bagnaia while Martín took advantage of Binder's mistake to catch up with his great rival.

Martín threw the bike at Pecco and went slightly wide, which the Italian took advantage of to pass him. They were about to touch each other and that allowed Brad Binder and Marc Márquez to sneak past them. After getting away from Bagnaia, Martín put the bike around Márquez to position himself behind Binder, with Viñales already almost a second behind after benefiting from all the overtaking behind him.

Binder signed the fastest lap to catch Viñales, taking Martín and Márquez with him. Bagnaia was closing in behind, and he was scared when Fabio Quartararo fell while trying to overtake him. That left Marco Bezzecchi behind Bagnaia, with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Álex Márquez behind him.

Shortly after, Binder's attack came on Viñales, who was not intimidated and recovered the interior. One lap later, the South African managed to consolidate the overtake to get in front of him, at the same time that Márquez showed the wheel to Martín, who closed the gap well.

Viñales seemed to begin to suffer and Martín passed him in the straight, with Márquez accounting for the Aprilia several corners later. A moment later, Binder sneaked in and Martín took the lead with six laps to go. Unlike Viñales, Bagnaia was going from less to more and was getting closer to Aprilia, although Di Giannantonio soon appeared in his rearview mirrors.

Jorge Martín contained Brad Binder well to take the victory, with Marc Márquez third after making up the deficit with both but without time to test the attack. Finally, Maverick Viñales recovered enough to finish fourth.

Pecco Bagnaia maintained fifth position against a Fabio Di Giannantonio who could not find the space to pass him safely, with Marco Bezzecchi, Álex Márquez and Johann Zarco scoring up to six Ducati in points.

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