Marc Marquez broke his 1000-day victory drought with top spot in Saturday’s sprint race at the Aragon Grand Prix.
The 31-year-old Catalan, who had topped every single session at MotoLand, controlled the race from the opening corners to convert pole position into a dominant 2.9s win.
It was the former Honda rider’s first chequered flag in more than 1000 days, stretching back to Misano in 2021, and first-ever in the new sprint format.
Gresini rider Marquez, who is also the ninth different rider to triumph on a Saturday since the introduction of the concept in 2023, said: “I feel super good. It was a very good weekend until now but the race always is the race and you cannot do any mistakes.
“I started a little bit stiff on the front lap, but then we started to ride in a better way and we controlled the race but of course, the most important day is tomorrow.
“So today we celebrate, because it’s a sprint Race, but it’s really important for us – the first victory in the sprint and I am, looking forward for tomorrow, in front of these amazing people.”
Jorge Martin rode to a solitary second place with Tech3’s Pedro Acosta another 3.7 seconds adrift completing an all-Spanish podium.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Martin’s comfortable runner-up slot allowed the Pramac man to leapfrog main title rival and world champion Francesco Bagnaia in the standings and convert a five-point deficit to a three-point advantage.
The Italian suffered wheelspin from third on the grid and clearly had a grip issue throughout the race as he buffeted back to ninth and the last points-scoring berth, behind the impessive Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha.
Alex Marquez rode to fourth for what was a solid day of results for the Gresini team and Miguel Oliveira’s fifth-place finish on the Trackhouse Racing Aprilia was the Portuguese’s second-highest sprint result of the campaign.
KTM’s Brad Binder was one of the flock of riders that profited from Bagnaia’s issues and took sixth ahead of a resurgent Enea Bastianini, who sailed from 14th on the grid to seventh after a poor Q1 outing this morning on the other factory Ducati.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was a victim of the slick grid tarmac and his poor launch was compounded further as he fell into Turn 1 after touching the rear wheel of Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46).
Other fallers were Honda’s principal hope, LCR rider Johann Zarco, and Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.
