Martin wins French sprint ahead of Binder

PARIS — Jorge Martin of Pramac Racing produced a flawless performance to hold off Brad Binder and win his first sprint race at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans.

Martin, who leapfrogged Ducati’s reigning MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia into the lead, took the chequered flag 1.840 seconds ahead of Red Bull KTM rider Binder, denying the South African a third sprint win of the season.

Bagnaia, who took pole earlier on Saturday, finished third after some back and forth with six-times world champion Marc Marquez of Honda, who eventually ended fifth behind Luca Marini of VR46 Ducati.

There was further misery for France’s 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo, who looked on course for a points finish in the sprint at his home GP before crashing with four laps to go.

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 team mate Jack Miller crashed out early.

Six-time world champion Marc Marquez came in fifth on his comeback after injury requiring surgery in the season-opening race in Portugal.

For Martin, this was a return to the top of the podium for the first time since his one and only MotoGP win in 2021.

Setting off in fifth on the grid, the Spaniard got a dream start to go second before hitting the front and holding off Binder’s KTM comfortably to pick up the 12 points.

“I’m super proud, coming back to be first after a long time, even if it’s ‘only’ in the sprint but it’s good for energy ” said the Ducati-Pramac rider.

“Maintaining that gap with Brad wasn’t easy,” he added after finally claiming the win following two podium placed-finishes in the dash that is a feature of every MotoGP weekend this year.

Bagnaia, who started on pole as he will again for main event, had a terrific scrap with Marquez and now leads the standings by 23 points.

“My objective was to win, but I lost position, Marc was aggressive, it was tense out there, I was losing time, but then everything turned out okay,” said the Ducati factory star.