Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin dominated proceedings in the MotoGP Sprint once again in 2024 at the French Grand Prix to further extend his championship lead.
The Spaniard romped home from pole position to take his third Sprint success of the season, as Marc Marquez retrieved 11 places to come home in second position.
Francesco Bagnaia had started alongside Martin on the front row in second, but he endured a disastrous start to plummet down the order to 15th place on the road.
The Italian would be unable to revive his prospects in the truncated encounter from there, with a technical issue seeing him into the gravel at Turn 7 and a retirement.
There was also trouble for Aleix Espargaro as he was too eager at the start and was penalised with a double long lap, dropping him out of contention for the podium.
But Marc Marquez made a storming start to rise from 13th up to fifth on the first lap, with an overtake on Maverick Vinales and Espargaro’s pen prompting him to third.
Marco Bezzecchi was closing on race leader Martin, with Marquez not far behind as Bagnaia trudged back to the pit lane to bring a miserable end to his Le Mans race.
Further back, Alex Rins had been bidding to improve on a tough weekend to that point, but contact with Brad Binder’s KTM resulted in a crash that took his Yamaha out.
Bezzecchi’s charge on Martin had not lasted long and his attention was now fixated on Marquez behind, with the Spaniard aiming for a successive second-place finish.
The Italian rider succumbed to the pressure from the Gresini Ducati man in the closing laps as he crashed out at Turn 10 on Lap 10, leaving him without a points return.
Martin had opened up a two-second advantage over the charging Marquez, while Enea Bastianini on the sole remaining factori Ducati was closing on Vinales for third.
However, Vinales held on to claim the final podium place, behind the dominant Martin, who has increased his points lead up to 28 points, and the recovering Marquez.
Bastianini took fourth for Ducati to overtake team-mate Bagnaia in the Riders’ Championship, with the Espargaro ensuring that Aprilia has two cars within the top five.
GasGas’ Pedro Acosta survived a scare at the penultimate corner to add to his total with sixth, battling against fellow KTM representative Jack Miller, who took eighth.
Despite Bezzecchi’s closing crash from the rostrum positions, Fabio Di Giannantonio did manage to bag some points for the satellite Ducati VR46 team with seventh.
Raul Fernandez bagged the final point for Trackhouse in ninth place, edging out Fabio Quartararo who came three-tenths behind the Spaniard to round out the top 10.
Miguel Oliveira was 11th in the second Trackhouse, while Franco Morbidelli endured a difficult race despite having showcased strong pace on his Pramac on one lap.
Johann Zarco was once again the leading Honda in 13th place, an overall improvement in speed as he battled with Morbidelli and Alex Marquez, who finished in 14th.
Brad Binder struggled to recover from the back of the grid, finishing in 15th, a few seconds in front of the riders behind but unable to get closer to the group in front.
Takaaki Nakagami trailed home in 16th on the LCR Honda, as the Japanese marque’s torrid period continued with Joan Mir crashing and Luca Marini the last runner.
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