Jorge Martin won a Jerez MotoGP Sprint of attrition as Marc Marquez crashed from the lead on a damp patch of asphalt in an enthralling 12-lap race.
The tricky conditions paved the way for Pedro Acosta to claim the runner-up spot and a surprise third on the road for Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, although the Frenchman would later be handed an eight-second time penalty for a tyre pressure infringement, elevating Dani Pedrosa onto the podium.
A predominantly dry Jerez circuit claimed several victims as damp patches were littered around the Andalusian course after rain earlier in the day.
KTM’s Brad Binder grabbed the holeshot as Martin and Marquez squabbled for supremacy behind and the rest of the field settled into a somewhat orderly fashion by MotoGP standards.
Alex Marquez forced Bagnaia wide to take fourth into the Dani Pedrosa corner, allowing Marco Bezzecchi to pass the reigning champion as well.
But a wobble on a damp patch allowed Francesco Bagnaia to reclaim fifth as Martin took the lead off of Binder before the end of the first lap.
Aleix Espargaro and Jack Miller saw misery with both crashing on the initial tour of the Jerez circuit.
The Aprilia rider hit a wet patch and lost the rear on entry to Turn 7, with Miller coming off better from his incident and being able to continue.
Out front it was Martin from Binder, but not for long as Marquez put a forceful Lap 2 move on the KTM to poach second, but Binder retaliated with a block pass on the final corner.
That brought Alex Marquez into the fight as Binder lost control coming onto the start/finish straight.
Then a somewhat late lunge saw Binder go underneath Bagnaia who was caught in the middle of the South African and Bezzecchi.
Binder collected the former and sent the #1 rider off and out of the Sprint at Turn 1.
Bezzecchi’s VR46 team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio was the next rider to hit the gravel, running wide and losing control of his Ducati at the final corner.
Meanwhile, with nine of the 12 laps left to run, Martin had eeked out a marginal one-second advantage over the Marquez Gresini duo, with Marc leading brother Alex.
Marquez sought to reign in the advantage Martin held at the front and with seven laps to go had brought the gap under a second, albeit with a track limits warning as down the back of the field Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori ran off the road in the final sector.
Alex Marquez had been cut adrift of the leading pair at this point, with fourth-placed Binder holding up a train of Enea Bastianini, Acosta and Bezzecchi.
At approximately half race distance a mistake from Martin allowed Marquez to get right on his tail and duly take the lead into the Angel Nieto section of the Jerez circuit.
Yamaha’s misery continued on Alex Rins’ side of the garage as the Spaniard lost the front whilst attempting a move on the inside of Augusto Fernandez at the final corner.
The stage was set for a Marquez/Martin battle, but the former was pushing the pace to stretch out a gap between the pair.
With four laps to go that gap was approximately half a second.
Binder’s wild race continued with a third of the race to go as the KTM rider went down on a damp patch at the Sito Pons corner in unison with Alex Marquez and Bastianini.
Marc Marquez then suffered a heartbreaking off by going down on a damp patch of his own, surrendering the lead and countless positions before getting underway.
There was anguish from the grandstands and within the Gresini garage, but there was no dismay for Martin who retook the lead with a handful of laps to go.
The damp patches weren’t done claiming victims, however, with COTA winner Maverick Vinales the next to tumble out from third position.
Several more riders hit the deck including Luca Marini, Stefan Bradl and Johann Zarco as more than half the field experienced a crash.
Martin rose above it all to take victory ahead of the ever-impressive rookie Acosta in second.
Quartararo survived the drama on track, but not off it as his sterling fight from 23rd on the grid to third in the Sprint was marred by his post-race penalty, dropping him to fifth.
The penalty elevated KTM wildcard Pedrosa to a surprise podium finish in third.
Martin’s Pramac team-mate Franco Morbidelli inherited fourth after Quartararo’s penalty, with Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez finishing sixth on the road but also succumbing to a post-race penalty due to tyre pressures.
That demoted Fernandez to 12th position, meaning Marquez’s recovery rewarded him with sixth, ahead of A. Fernandez, Miguel Oliveira and Joan Mir.
Takaaki Nakagami was the lead LCR Honda and rounded out the top-10, with Zarco able to recover from his incident to finish 11th.
Likewise, Di Giannantonio recovered from his final corner crash to finish 13th ahead of KTM’s Miller and Rins who completed the points-scoring positions.
Savadori too was able to recover from his off to finish 16th.
As many as nine riders failed to make the final race classification including Marini, Bradl, Vinales and A. Marquez.
Binder, Bastianini and Bezzecchi also suffered retirements with the latter enduring a fast late-race crash.
Reigning champion Bagnaia and Aprilia’s Espargaro also failed to finish.
