Martin wins France MotoGP Sprint, Miller crashes

Jorge Martin has won the French MotoGP Sprint while Jack Miller crashed out of the podium places in the opening laps.

Prima Pramac Racing’s Martin passed struggling Ducati stablemate Francesco Bagnaia in the early stages and never looked back, at times enjoying a lead of more than two seconds during the 13-lapper at Le Mans.

While Miller threw away a possible podium, his Red Bull KTM team-mate Brad Binder hauled his way to second place, with championship leader Bagnaia mounting something of a recovery as he finished third on his Ducati Team entry.

Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) rounded out the top five but Fabio Quartararo’s bad day got even worse when he crashed his Monster Energy Yamaha on Lap 10.

Bagnaia had converted pole position into the early lead while Martin braked late at the Turn 3/Turn 4 chicane and filed into second place for Lap 1, ahead of Miller.

Marc Marquez lost ground when the lights went out but passed Marini for fourth at La Musee (Turn 7), while Binder emerged in sixth position from the opening corners.

Miller crashed out of third at La Musee on Lap 2, meaning Binder’s pass on Marini moments later at Garage Vert was for fourth position.

Martin was in front when he overtook Bagnaia at Turn 3/Turn 4 on Lap 4, before Marquez attacked the factory Ducati rider at the same location on the following lap.

He could not get the move done then and they slowed each other up to the point that Binder passed both as they descended towards La Chapelle, meaning the KTM rider was into second place as Martin skipped 1.3s clear in first spot.

Marquez did succeed with a forceful move on Bagnaia at Turn 3 on Lap 6 and Marini followed, before the 2022 world champion found a burst of pace.

Bagnaia re-passed Marini for fourth later that same lap at Garage Vert, and eventually got back ahead of Marquez when he swept under the #93 Honda at Turn 1 on Lap 10.

Marquez was back to fifth position when Marini outbraked him into Turn 3 on Lap 11, as Martin circulated two seconds to the good and Binder still enjoyed margin over Bagnaia.

The latter chipped away at the deficit to second-placed Binder but never seriously threatened, meaning a podium of the #89 Ducati Desmosedici in first, the #33 KTM RC16 in second, and the #1 Ducati Desmosedici in third.

After Marini and Marquez came Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) in sixth at the chequered flag, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda).

Quartararo had only qualified 13th and dropped as low as 16th, on Lap 1, but had made his way to eighth before he folded the front of his YZR-M1 at Chemin aux Boeufs on Lap 10.

He joined fellow crashers Miller and Tech3 GasGas duo Augusto Fernandez and Jonas Folger as DNFs.

After Sunday’s Warm Up, the Grand Prix race takes place at 22:00 AEST.

Race results: Sprint race

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	89	Jorge MARTIN	ESP	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	19:59.037
2	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+1.840
3	1	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	+2.632
4	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	+3.418
5	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+3.541
6	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	+4.483
7	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	+5.224
8	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	+6.359
9	12	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	+8.336
10	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	+9.439
11	42	Alex RINS	ESP	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	+12.388
12	49	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	+14.125
13	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+15.121
14	36	Joan MIR	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+15.383
15	73	Alex MARQUEZ	ESP	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	+15.591
16	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	+19.415
17	32	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia	+26.992
DNF	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+4 laps
DNF	94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3	KTM	+5 laps
DNF	37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	ESP	GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3	KTM	+8 laps
DNF	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+12 laps

Race winner: 13 laps

Riders’ championship

Pos	Rider	Nat	Pts
1	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	94
2	Brad BINDER	RSA	71
3	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	68
4	Jorge MARTIN	ESP	60
5	Luca MARINI	ITA	54
6	Johann ZARCO	FRA	50
7	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	49
8	Jack MILLER	AUS	49
9	Alex RINS	ESP	47
10	Alex MARQUEZ	ESP	41
11	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	40
12	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	34
13	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	31
14	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	21
15	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	17
16	Augusto FERNANDEZ	ESP	17
17	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	14
18	Dani PEDROSA	ESP	13
19	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	12
20	Joan MIR	ESP	5
21	Michele PIRRO	ITA	5
22	Jonas FOLGER	GER	4
23	Raul FERNANDEZ	ESP	3
24	Stefan BRADL	GER	2
25	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	0
26	Iker LECUONA	ESP	0
27	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	0