MOTO GP

Marc Márquez's masterclass at Misano

Spaniard Marc Márquez claimed victory in the San Marino Grand Prix Sprint race, demonstrating great speed and track control as he finished ahead of Italian Marco Bezzecchi. In doing so, both riders narrowed the gap to the 2026 MotoGP leader, Spaniard Jorge Martín, who finished third.

With Marc Márquez and Jorge Martín opting for the medium rear tire—unlike the soft tires chosen by the rest of the front row—the lights went out and Márquez managed to overtake Bezzecchi. Fabio Di Giannantonio slotted in behind Bezzecchi after passing Fermín Aldeguer a few corners later; Martín took advantage of this to overtake Aldeguer, who also lost a position to his compatriot Pedro Acosta.

The race settled into a rhythm with no changes in position until the third lap, when Aldeguer made contact with Acosta; Álex Márquez capitalized on the situation to overtake both and move into fifth place. This created a gap between the top four and the rest of the pack. Raúl Fernández overtook Aldeguer, who then had to defend eighth place against Luca Marini. Just behind them, Fabio Quartararo crashed while attempting to overtake Diogo Moreira, who miraculously managed to stay upright.

Marc Márquez dropped his lap time below 1:30 to set the fastest lap and build a seven-tenth lead over Bezzecchi. Bezzecchi, in turn, was pulling away from 'Diggia' and Martín, who were being dangerously closed in on by Álex Márquez—who had also managed to dip below the 1:31 mark.

Marc Márquez stabilized his lap times and extended his lead to one second by the sixth lap, while behind him, Martín snatched third place from Di Giannantonio. At the front, the trend shifted on the eighth lap as Bezzecchi cut Marc's lead by four-tenths of a second, bringing the gap down to seven-tenths.

On the following lap, he shaved another tenth off the deficit, with four laps still remaining. On the following lap, the gap shrank to just half a tenth, setting up a final three-lap dash with little more than half a second separating them. But then Marc Márquez pushed hard to set the fastest lap and open up a further one-second lead, securing the victory.

Marco Bezzecchi had to settle for second place, and Jorge Martín rounded out the podium after pulling away from Fabio Di Giannantonio and Álex Márquez; Pedro Acosta finished sixth ahead of Raúl Fernández and Fermín Aldeguer, while Luca Marini took the final point on offer.

Bezzecchi started from the front, but Márquez fought back... Despite using the soft rear tire—while Bezzecchi opted for the medium compound—Márquez got a better start. The Ducati rider took the lead entering the first corner and tried to pull away right from the opening meters.

However, Bezzecchi didn't let his rival get away. The Aprilia rider began pressuring Márquez and narrowed the gap during the race. Even so, the Spaniard responded during the decisive moments and managed to keep his pursuer at bay to secure the victory.

Márquez took the checkered flag after 13 laps, finishing 0.743 seconds ahead of Bezzecchi. Jorge Martín, the championship leader and also an Aprilia rider, rounded out the podium, 1.794 seconds behind the winner.

More details...The race began with Marc Márquez taking the lead at the first corner, leaving Marco Bezzecchi in second place, followed by Fabio Di Giannantonio and Jorge Martín. Fermín Aldeguer dropped to fifth place. A little further back, Diogo Moreira moved up to tenth place during the opening corners of the race.

Still on the first lap, Pedro Acosta moved up to fifth, overtaking Aldeguer, who then came under pressure from his Gresini teammate, Álex Márquez. In the pack behind, Francesco Bagnaia passed Pol Espargaró, taking 14th place. Álex Márquez overtook both Aldeguer and Acosta, breaking into the top five by the third lap.

Aldeguer plummeted down the order to eighth place, while Fabio Quartararo crashed his Yamaha following an incident with Moreira, who continued in the race. The Brazilian lost a position to Johann Zarco, dropping to 11th place. At the front, Di Giannantonio received a track-limits warning, while Márquez opened up a one-second gap over Bezzecchi.

On the seventh lap, Martín attacked Di Giannantonio and successfully overtook him, taking third place. In the battle for the lead, Bezzecchi once again closed the gap to Márquez to seven-tenths of a second by the ninth lap. Meanwhile, Moreira held onto 11th place.

With four laps remaining, Bezzecchi cut the gap to Márquez to half a second, while Martín lacked the pace to close in on the top two. Di Giannantonio, meanwhile, came under pressure from Álex Márquez in the fight for fourth place.

The race entered the final lap with Márquez 1.1 seconds ahead of Bezzecchi, cruising toward victory. Bezzecchi and Martín rounded out the top three, while Moreira finished 11th.

Fabio Di Giannantonio finished in P4, ahead of Álex Márquez and Pedro Acosta. Raúl Fernández took P7, while Fermín Aldeguer finished in P8.

Luca Marini secured P9, and Johann Zarco rounded out the top 10. Diogo Moreira finished in P11, 10.493 seconds behind Márquez.

Franco Morbidelli finished in P12, followed by Francesco Bagnaia. The Italian Ducati rider had a difficult race and crossed the finish line 17.763 seconds behind the winner.

Fabio Quartararo had a tough race; the Yamaha rider crashed early in the Sprint while attempting to overtake Diogo Moreira for P11.

Quartararo managed to rejoin the race but lost a lot of time due to the incident. Consequently, he finished in P21—last place—24.419 seconds behind Márquez.

Brad Binder finished P14, followed by Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaró. Toprak Razgatlioglu finished in P17, while Jack Miller took P18. Álex Rins and Joan Mir rounded out the classification in P19 and P20

by: Autonews