Marc Marquez overcomes poor start for sprint win

Marc Marquez secured victory in the Aragon Grand Prix sprint race, having bested Alex Marquez after battling back up the MotoGP field following a poor start which initially dropped the factory Ducati rider out of the top three.

Alex looked in command as he put in fastest lap after fastest lap, aiming to keep his brother at bay, but Marc slowly reeled his younger brother in to take the lead on lap six under braking for Turn 1. Marc calmly pulled away from Alex to take the flag.

The six-time MotoGP champion launched badly off the line with Alex taking the lead while Franco Morbidelli tagged along for company into second on the run to turn 1. Marc actually got pushed down to fourth as the Ducati rider battled with wheelspin. Pedro Acosta sneaked past with a bit of contact into third as well but Marc quickly reversed the situation on the corner exit.

Lap two saw drama as Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) and Joan Mir (HRC Honda) clashed. The Yamaha rider would be awarded a long-lap penalty for his troubles. Mir’s frantic hand gestures made it clear who he thought was at fault for the incident.

Morbidelli was initially under heavy pressure from Acosta’s KTM for third. The orange bike had formidable speed on the straight but Morbidelli kept him at bay even after Acosta tried to grab the position off him.

Acosta fell further back behind as Fermin Aldeguer jumped up to fourth using the medium tyre on the rear of his Ducati to great effect. Aldeguer went further still as he used his grip advantage to snatch the final podium place off Morbidelli while the KTM rider followed them home in fifth.

Sixth went to Fabio Di Giannantonio on his VR46 Ducati, another rider using a medium rear tyre to post quick lap times, but he was unable to get on terms with the battling trio in front.

Maverick Vinales was fastest towards the end of the race on his Tech3 KTM but would have to settle for seventh while Marco Bezzecchi put on an excellent show to recover from his 20th grid slot. Brad Binder recovered to take the final points-paying position after dropping down to 13th following the race start.

There was more disappointment for Yamaha as Augusto Fernandez stopped out on the circuit on the development version of the YZR-M1.

MotoGP Aragon GP – Sprint results