Raul Fernandez battled past his Aprilia compatriots to claim the second sprint win of his MotoGP career at the Dutch Grand Prix, leading team-mate Ai Ogura in a Trackhouse 1-2.
Fernandez shot to the lead on lap 3 of 13 and held off the advances of both Fabio di Giannantonio and Ogura, returning to the top spot of the podium just a week after being weakened by a bout of appendicitis.
The factory Aprilias of Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin ended up fourth and fifth, behind the VR46 Ducati of di Giannantonio.
At the start of the race, Ogura got the jump from second on the grid to lead into Turn 1, but polesitter Martin immediately repassed him to reinstate the status quo.
Fernandez held on to third place on the other Trackhouse Aprilia, while a mistake from points leader Bezzecchi dropped him to fight behind di Giannantonio.
On lap 2, Fernandez was on the move, initially passing his team-mate Ogura before setting off after Martin.
Closing the gap significantly over the next lap, Fernandez finally made the decisive move into the final chicane, sweeping past the factory Aprilia rider to hit the front for the first time.
Start action
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
At the same time, di Giannantonio cleared Ogura for third position, setting up a potential Ducati vs Aprilia battle for the top spot as Martin plummeted down the order.
The VR46 rider initially remained within striking distance of Fernandez, but the Spanish rider was able to break away with five laps to run, leaving di Giannantonio in the clutches of Ogura.
Ogura made quick work of the Ducati and briefly challenged Fernandez for the lead, but the latter eventually crossed the line with a comfortable margin of six tenths to lead a maiden 1-2 finish for Trackhouse.
Di Giannantonio held on to third place to deny Aprilia a podium lockout, while Bezzecchi barged past team-mate Martin midway through the race to grab fourth.
Martin came under serious pressure from factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia, who had recovered from a poor start to challenge the Aprilias. But the 2024 champion fended off his former title rival to claim fifth, taking the chequered flag just half a tenth clear of the Italian.
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez lost an early battle with team-mate Bagnaia and finished seventh on the road, but was elevated to sixth after the latter was hit with a one-place penalty for cutting the track.
Tech3’s Enea Bastianini ended up as KTM’s top finisher in eighth after factory rider Pedro Acosta went wide on the second lap and dropped to 15th. The Spaniard managed to recover from that early error, grabbing the final championship point in ninth.
Joan Mir, Honda HRC crash
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Completing the top 10 was Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, with Diogo Moreira ending up as the top Honda in 11th. The LCR rookie started behind factory rider Joan Mir, but moved up a position after the latter crashed out of the opening lap of the sprint.
Joining Mir in the list of retirees were Franco Morbidelli, who fell on the penultimate lap, and Jack Miller, who pulled into the pits with what appeared to be a technical problem.
MotoGP Dutch GP – Sprint race results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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