#SPANISHGP – MOTOGP, SPRINT & RACE – Victory for Bezzecchi
MOTOGP – SPRINT: Crash, switch, win: Marc Marquez back on top in dramatic flag-to-flag Sprint
We’ve checked the databases and every now and then, the wildest of history does indeed repeat itself – rarely does a rider crash and still come away with victory. Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), just when you think he’s won in every kind of scenario, did just that to take Sprint honours at home in Jerez, with teammate Francesco Bagnaia in second – from P10 on the grid – and Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) – from P18 on the grid – joining the #93 on the podium. Instead of some poetry about how great it is, this is how it happened.
LIGHTS OUT IN THE SPRINT
Marc Marquez got a great start from pole, with Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) remaining second as the shuffle began behind. Alex Marquez shot up into second place, with Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) in fourth and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) in fifth.
Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) got a shocker, seemingly with a tear off under the rear off the line, and plummeted down the order, facing a fight back from P16 as the battle at the front started to heat up. Marc Marquez was starting to build a gap but the chase was on. First, Martin attacked Alex Marquez but the #73 answered back at Turn 1, forcing Martin wide. The #89 sat up and looked down at a red-hot front disc too – having struggled to drop anchor.
THE HEAVENS OPEN
Next, Alex Marquez was past Zarco. And with 10 to go, the grey overcast skies became drops of rain – with the white flag out, denoting riders can change bikes. We’ve seen it before in a Sprint but never so early in the lap count. This time, there was time to make it count – if it rained enough.
At that point however, it clearly wasn’t too damp – with Zarco and Diggia throwing down in an awesome duel for third. As the drops continued though, Diggia was able to get a grip on P3, with Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) stalking his way up into fourth.
That left Zarco with his hands full of KTMs. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was first on the chase, with Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) for close company. After Acosta was denied by Zarco, Bastianini was able to profit and slip through – the Beast then on the tail of the Frenchman.
THE FRONT GROUP
Meanwhile at the front, what had been a reasonable gap had been cut and cut until Alex Marquez’s Gresini was absolutely glued to Marc Marquez’s Ducati Lenovo machine in the lead. He shadowed him and looked tempted to make a move, dropped back a little, and then by 6 to go the attack came – the #73 was alongside and through at Turn 9, as Diggia homed in on both.
Drama hit quickly after that. First Marc Marquez slid out at the final corner, just getting it wrong as the rain started to increase. But that would prove absolutely pivotal – with the #93 choosing to then pick it up and dive straight into the pitlane to switch bikes. The rest of the frontrunners continued – with Binder leading the group of those who dived into pitlane too.
That left Alex Marquez at the front leading Diggia, and Binder leading the chase of those who had switched – with only 4 laps to go. Was there enough time?
THE SECOND MARQUEZ CRASH
Suddenly, even more drama – this time for Alex Marquez. The #73 was down at the same corner his brother fell at in last year’s Grand Prix, the rain intensifying from a drizzle to a deluge, and it was suddenly absolutely sure – wets were needed. The rest headed for pitlane and Binder was net leader – until the South African suffered his own off too. As the shuffles continued, it was a red duo of Bagnaia and Marc Marquez thundering towards the race lead, passing a defenceless Fermin Aldeguer as the Gresini rider gambled to stay out on slicks.
THE IMPOSSIBLE… MADE POSSIBLE
Bagnaia led Marc Marquez as the rain came down, but the #93 struck for the lead not long after – from the front to the floor and back to the front. As high as P1 and as low as P17 before somehow finding his way back to the lead, it was a Sprint to remember for the #93 who was back on top ahead of his teammate Bagnaia, who, in turn, makes it back-to-back Sprint rostrums whilst unbelievably, having pitted in the first group, Morbidelli came home in third. Binder, despite his crash, still took fourth which on any other day would’ve been the story. ‘Diggia’ was fifth ahead of Raul Fernandez whilst Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took Sprint points in seventh. Fellow countryman Zarco and Honda’s Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) were the last of the points finishers.
MOTOGP – RACE: Flawless Alex Marquez keeps Bezzecchi at bay for victory as Marc Marquez crashes in Jerez
Back-to-back MotoGP victories at your home Grand Prix are what dreams are made of, and Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) has achieved just that after the #73 rolled out a stunner in a dramatic 2026 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Grand Prix of Spain that saw Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) crash out of second place on Lap 2. Marco Bezzecchi’s (Aprilia Racing) record-breaking victory run is now over, but the Italian’s P2 is another fantastic result for the championship leader as compatriot Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned P3 to jump up to third in the standings.
OPENING LAPS: MM93 OUT EARLY
Marc Marquez got away from pole perfectly and grabbed the holeshot with both arms as the field dived into Turn 1, with Bezzecchi getting a stormer – unlike in the Sprint – from the second row to jump to P2. And Alex Marquez got a corker too. The 2025 Spanish GP winner was P3, then P2 behind Marc Marquez after the Gresini Racing star shoved his way past the Championship leader at Turn 9.
Alex Marquez didn’t wait long to pounce on Marc Marquez either. Turn 6, the Dani Pedrosa Corner, saw the #73 shove his way past the reigning World Champion. Now, could Marc Marquez respond?
Well, we found out the answer very quickly. Huge drama unfolded for the #93 on Lap 2 as Marc Marquez crashed out at the rapid right-hand turn of 11. The front-end washed away, and there was no chance of saving that one, as the home-crowd hero suffered a very early DNF in Jerez for the second year running. Thankfully, the Spaniard was up on his feet and OK, but that’s another early dent to the Champion’s title charge.
ALEX MARQUEZ STRETCHES HIS LEGS, ACOSTA LOSES GROUND
Back on track, Alex Marquez was lapping 0.6s ahead of Bezzecchi, as we jumped on board with Di Giannantonio as he passed Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) for P3 on Lap 5. At this stage of the Grand Prix, Diggia was a second behind compatriot Bezzecchi.
A small but costly mistake from Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) at the start of Lap 6 saw the Spaniard slip to P9 from P7 following contact with Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), leaving the #37 one place ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and without some front-end aero. That was then one place behind Pecco, as the Italian made a move stick on the KTM rider at the final corner.
Up front, Alex Marquez was beginning to stretch his legs. At the start of Lap 10, his lead 1.6s over Bezzecchi, who in turn had Di Giannantonio lingering 0.6s behind. Martin remained well within reach of the podium battle too; the 2024 MotoGP World Champion was a further 0.6s back in P4, with Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) a second back from the second Aprilia in P5.
PECCO DNFs
At the start of Lap 12, misery was compounded in the factory Ducati box. Pecco encountered some form of problem with his Desmosedici, and the sight of the #63 pulling into the pitlane signalled a nightmare Sunday in Jerez for the top two in the Tissot Sprint.
CONTROLLING IT TO THE FLAG
While there was disappointment in the red corner of Ducati, there was pending delight in the blue corner. Alex Marquez’s lead was now just under two seconds at the end of Lap 15 of 25, with Di Giannantonio 0.9s away from second place Bezzecchi.
With six laps left, it was as you were at the front. Alex Marquez was controlling the gap back to Bezzecchi, and the same can be said for the title race leader in his attempts to keep Di Giannantonio at bay.
While the podium positions were looking settled, the battle for the top six wasn’t. And Zarco, with three laps to go, got a face full of Trackhouse – first from Fernandez, then from Ai Ogura. Two classy moves pulled on the impressive Frenchman.
10 seconds up the road from that particular fight, Alex Marquez had 4.4km left to arrive at the chequered flag as a Spanish GP winner for the second year in a row. A wave to the jubilant, packed hillsides through Turns 9 and 10 capped off a phenomenal Sunday for the recently turned 30-year-old, as Alex Marquez clinched a dream Jerez win again.
This time, it was Bezzecchi who finished P2 to Alex Marquez. The unbeaten Sunday run ends, but that’s another brilliant result for the Italian and Aprilia. A treasured 20 points means Bez’s lead in the championship extends to 11 over fourth place Martin, and sandwiched between the Aprilia duo was the in-form Di Giannantonio, who bagged a second podium of the season. That moves the Italian up to P3 in the World Championship, with Martin 19 points clear in P2 after another great weekend.
The winner of that P5 battle we mentioned? Ogura. The Japanese rider shoved past his teammate at Turn 6 on the final lap to pick up 11 points, with Fernandez P6 on home turf. Zarco’s strong weekend ended with a solid P7, as Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) acted as the lead KTM rider on Sunday with a P8. Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) crossed the line in P9 as his recovery continues, and a frustrated Acosta had to settle for P10. Not what the #37 had ordered.
Acosta’s teammate Brad Binder was one place and 0.3s behind in P11, with Sprint podium finisher Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), and Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) – after a double Long Lap penalty for the 2020 World Champion – closed out the points-paying positions.
It’s been a solid weekend from my side. I can be happy, because we were competitive in every session – whether it was cold or hot and also with the wind in today’s race. To be honest, my expectation for the Grand Prix was a bit higher. I was thinking about the top five, but after a few laps, I felt a lot of drop-off from the front tyre so it was impossible to push it from then on. Still, we remained consistent to the end and since Austin, we have taken a good step forward; my main problem during the first two rounds of the season was a lack of all-round grip, but now, it feels much better. Let’s continue in this way!
Enea Bastianini – P8
The race was tough. The rear brake broke on the second lap after I touched Jack. It’s almost impossible to complete a race without that, but I just tried to do all 25 laps, even if we were not going that fast. I also had to train myself to be ready for the next wild-card opportunity. Because of the rear brake issue, today’s feeling on the bike and the data are not so easy to compare. Let’s see what the other guys say after they get to test the same things tomorrow.
Augusto Fernandez – P20
Today was an unlucky race for me, the rhythm and the pace was good because I was in the top ten, so it was a good race. Then another rider did a mistake, and I did a very big crash. So fortunately, I’m not injured, nothing broken in my body but I’m not at 100%. I hope to be in a better shape for the race.
Lorenzo Savadori – NC
We know it’s difficult to overtake in MotoGP, and even more so at this track. The race wasn’t bad, I was there, following the factory Hondas. With 10 laps to go, I started to struggle with the tyre wear. Tomorrow it will be important to try some different setup options and see where we can improve.
Diogo Moreira – NC
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #KytCrew during the weekend in Jerez