Brad Binder secured a second sprint race win of 2023 after passing KTM team-mate Jack Miller for the leadership late on at Jerez, while pole-man Aleix Espargaro crashed out.
Binder managed to take the lead at the start of the 11-lap contest – reduced from 12 after the original race was red flagged due to an incident between Franco Morbidelli, Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi – after making a lightning getaway from fourth on the grid, though was soon passed by a charging Miller as he tried to check out.
The Aussie slowly started to slip back into the clutches of Binder though as his rear tyre looked to be crying for help, the South African pressing hard until he finally managed to get the better of his fellow RC16 rider with a brave around the outside manoeuvre at Turn 6 on the penultimate lap.
As Binder tried to escape out front Miller then came under pressure from Francesco Bagnaia, the reigning MotoGP world champion finding a way past for second at Turn 6 on the very last tour after Miller ran wide, though the Ducati rider was ultimately powerless to stop Binder reaching the chequered flag first for his second sprint success of the year.
Miller at least managed to hold off Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin for the final rostrum spot, while RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira did the same to a rejuvenated Dani Pedrosa, who wound back the clock and enjoyed a spirited battle on the third factory KTM en-route to a strong sixth in his first race event in two years.
Maverick Vinales kept his RS-GP upright to score a few points for seventh ahead of Johann Zarco, while Bezzecchi was able to take the restart following his crash in the original encounter and secure the final point for ninth just ahead of team-mate Luca Marini.
Fabio Quartararo saw a blistering start in the first attempt of the race – in which he climbed from 16th to eighth – go to waste after having to start in his original grid spot, the Yamaha racer able to recover to only 12th as team-mate Franco Morbidelli came home down in 16th.
Pole-man Espargaro looked set for a disappointing fifth having made a pair of sluggish starts in both versions of the race, though he threw his result away with a late crash at Turn 9, while Alex Marquez saw his own second chance wasted after going down while running within the top ten.
Americas Grand Prix victor Alex Rins ended up as the best-placed Honda man in the race in 13th after LCR team-mate Takaaki Nakagami crashed out while challenging Vinales, with Joan Mir’s rotten start to the year getting no better after the 2020 MotoGP world champion suffered yet another crash.
