Jorge Martin flew to victory at Le Mans in the French Grand Prix sprint race as Fabio Quartararo crashed his Yamaha towards the end.
Martin made a blinding start from fifth on the grid to snatch second by the time the field exited the opening chicane, the Spaniard diving around the outside of his peers to challenge pole-man Francesco Bagnaia in the first tours.
Bagnaia looked to be struggling for mid-corner speed in the early stages, meaning a queue of riders began to form behind him until Martin finally made his move at Turn 2 just a few laps in – the Pramac ace securing the leadership and immediately beginning to sprint clear.
A charging Marc Marquez was the next to make his move on Bagnaia into the chicane a lap later, though as the two tussled Brad Binder snuck through to claim the runners-up spot despite having started a lowly tenth on the grid to begin his pursuit of a third sprint victory of the year.
Martin had things well under control out in front however and expertly managed his gap to the South African over the remaining circulations to eventually take the chequered flag 1.8 seconds clear of Binder – who came under pressure from a recovering Bagnaia in the closing laps.
The reigning premier class world champion fell as far back as fifth by the time he finally found his rhythm, swiftly passing VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini before then snatching back third from Marquez to try and salvage second from Binder.
He ultimately came up short and settled for third behind the KTM rider, with Marini also moving clear of Marquez towards the back-end of the encounter to secure fourth.
Marquez managed to hold on to round off the top five ahead of home hero Johann Zarco on the sister Pramac entry, while Marco Bezzecchi took seventh on the other VR46 machine.
Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales brought their RS-GP’s home to complete the points positions, the duo inheriting a spot apiece after Quartararo crashed out from eighth with only a few tours left to run after losing the front of his Yamaha on entry to Turn 9.
Takaaki Nakagami led home LCR Honda team-mate Alex Rins to claim tenth, with the sole remaining Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli snagging a lowly 13th just ahead of Joan Mir’s factory Honda.
Danilo Petrucci was 16th on the other factory Ducati, while Lorenzo Savadori was the final rider to make the finish in 17th on his RNF Aprilia.
Other riders that failed to make the flag were Friday pace-setter Jack Miller, who dropped his KTM at Turn 7 while running third early on, as well as GasGas pairing Augusto Fernandez and Jonas Folger.
