LE MANS: jorge martin of Pramac Racing went faultless to hold on Brad Binder and won his first sprint race at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans on Saturday.
Martin, who edged reigning Ducati MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia into the lead, took the checkered flag 1.840 seconds ahead of Red Bull KTM rider Binder, denying the South African a third sprint victory by the season.
“I’m super proud to come back to be first after a long time, even if it’s only in the sprint but it’s good for the energy and for tomorrow,” said Martin.
“Maintaining that gap with Brad hasn’t been easy.”
Bagnaia, who took pole earlier on Saturday, finished third after some back and forth with the six-time world champion Mark Marquez from Honda, who eventually finished fifth behind Luca Marini of Ducati VR46.
Martin, who edged reigning Ducati MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia into the lead, took the checkered flag 1.840 seconds ahead of Red Bull KTM rider Binder, denying the South African a third sprint victory by the season.
“I’m super proud to come back to be first after a long time, even if it’s only in the sprint but it’s good for the energy and for tomorrow,” said Martin.
“Maintaining that gap with Brad hasn’t been easy.”
Bagnaia, who took pole earlier on Saturday, finished third after some back and forth with the six-time world champion Mark Marquez from Honda, who eventually finished fifth behind Luca Marini of Ducati VR46.
The 12 points for the win moved Martin up three places in the riders’ standings to fourth, while Binder passed Marco Bezzechi up to the second.
“I knew the start was everything, I knew I could get him home to a decent place,” Binder said.
Bagnaia retains first place with a nice lead of 23 points.
There was still misery for the 2021 world champion from France Fabio Quartararowho was looking to finish in the points in the sprint of his home GP before crashing four laps from the finish.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez nearly collided during the sprint, but MotoGP said no further action would be taken after reviewing the incident, while Binder’s teammate Jack Miller, crashed early.
