With an incredible effort, Jorge Martin extended his lead over the defending champion Francesco Bagnaia in the San Marino and Rimini Riviera MotoGP sprint race on Saturday.
Ahead of Sunday’s main event Grand Prix, Pramac rider Martin leads pole-sitter Bagnaia by 26 points after storming to an unexpected second sprint win of the year.
The Spanish driver, who took first place at Misano Adriatico the previous year, lined up in fourth place on the grid but quickly overtook Bagnaia at the first turn.
For the remainder of the 13-lap sprint, he easily held off Ducati’s Bagnaia, crossing the finish line 1.495 seconds ahead of his Italian competitor and moving up to the top of the standings.
“I thought we might fight today, but I didn’t think we would start like that,” Martin remarked.
“I was ecstatic to maintain a lead for the final two laps. It’s a different tale for tomorrow, but I am optimistic that things are going well and moving quickly.
Although Martin hasn’t won a race since the French Grand Prix back on May, his consistency has given him a good lead as he pursues his maiden MotoGP victory.
No matter what happens in the race on Sunday, Bagnaia will not be able to pass the 27-year-old in the rankings this weekend. He had finished second in both the sprint and GP at four of the previous five meetings.
It was a major setback for Bagnaia, who had secured pole position earlier on Saturday with a lap record-breaking quickest at the “Marco Simoncelli” circuit and was expected to close the distance between him and Martin.
The two-time champion Bagnaia appeared in excellent form before Martin left him for dust, but he is currently suffering from injuries to his collarbone, shoulder, and neck following his accident out of the Aragon MotoGP last weekend.
“I’m not at all content… It was a complete disaster at first; I lost first place, and things were really tough,” Bagnaia remarked.
Regardless, it’s acceptable to be in second place following last week’s events. We’ll aim to be in a better position tomorrow and work to improve the start, which was a nightmare.
At least the fact that this weekend is the first of two straight at Misano helps Bagnaia; later in September, the Emilia Romagna GP will take place at the same circuit, replacing the postponed race in Kazakhstan.
Last weekend’s double winner at Alcaniz, Marc Marquez, struggled in Italy and lost position on Martin, finishing the sprint in sixth place and falling to 77 points off the summit in third.
From his starting position of ninth on the grid, six-time champion Marquez fought his way up the rankings, but Enea Bastianini has caught up to him on 234 points.
