Pramac’s Jorge Martin took a commanding Sprint race victory in Misano to extend his MotoGP championship lead over Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Martin got a fantastic start from the second row of the grid and led the Sprint from start to finish to open up a 26-point gap to Bagnaia in the championship.
Bagnaia got a good start from pole position, but it was a lightning reaction time from Martin to get the best start from fourth as he swooped past the reigning World Champion to take the lead into Turn 1.
Bagnaia continued to follow Martin with the pair trading fastest laps throughout the race, as they pulled away from Pramac’s second rider, Franco Morbidelli in third.
It was a positive start for Enea Bastianini, as the Ducati rider moved from eighth to fifth on the opening lap, and was quick to pass KTM’s Brad Binder on Lap 4 as he looked to chase down Morbidelli for the final spot on the podium.
The Tech3 GasGas of Pedro Acosta and Red Bull KTM of Binder were fighting for bragging rights as the top non-Ducati, with the Spaniard pulling a bold move on the South African to move up to fifth.
Marc Marquez was looking to recover from a qualifying crash that made him start ninth on the grid as he passed VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi and KTM’s Jack Miller to get up to seventh, allowing him to chase after Acosta and Binder ahead of him.
It proved to be a nightmare day for the VR46 squad, as both Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed out of the race and were the only non-finishers of the Sprint, with team owner Valentino Rossi watching on from the sidelines.
Out front, the gap between the front pair remained steady, but the Italian had nothing for the Spaniard, as Martin took the flag 1.4 seconds ahead of Bagnaia, while Morbidelli was able to fend off a late charge from Bastianini for third.
Marquez overtook Acosta for fifth on the final lap, as the rookie finished the sprint as the top non-Ducati, while Binder led Miller over the line as the factory KTMs finished seventh and eighth.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo picked up the final point in ninth ahead of Gresini’s Alex Marquez in 10th, while the Aprilia pairing of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro finished outside the points in 11th and 12th.
Johann Zarco was the top Honda rider as he came home in 13th ahead of KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro.
Trackhouse’s Miguel Oliveira finished 15th, leading home Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez and teammate Raul Fernandez.
Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini was 18th, as Yamaha’s Alex Rins and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the classified finishers.
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