Martin leads Aprilia domination in sprint

Jorge Martin converted pole position into a commanding victory in the British Grand Prix sprint to extend his lead at the top of the MotoGP standings.

The Spaniard nailed the start and then led every lap of the half-distance race at Silverstone, only facing a brief threat from Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura during the middle stages before pulling comfortably clear in the final laps.

With Marco Bezzecchi finishing third behind team-mate Martin and Ogura, Aprilia secured its first-ever sprint podium lockout, even as Raul Fernandez crashed out early on.

At the start of the race, Martin made a clean start from pole, with Ogura jumping to second as his team-mate Fernandez slipped to sixth.

Meanwhile, Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez engaged in a close battle for fourth behind Ogura and Fabio di Giannantonio, the pair making contact at Turn 4 before the factory Ducati rider found a way past into Stowe.

At the front, race leader Martin began edging ahead of the competition, as Ogura and di Giannantonio lost time squabbling for second. Di Giannantonio managed to nudge ahead at the start of lap two, but Ogura immediately fired back to maintain the status quo.

By the end of lap five, Martin was almost a second clear of the rest of the field, seemingly in control of the race. But Ogura started coming back at him on lap six after dropping di Giannantonio back, setting the foundation for a potential late race attack.

But Martin quickly responded to Ogura’s pace to build up the gap again, eventually taking the chequered flag by 1.5s to claim his third sprint win of 2026. Ogura had no answer to Martin’s speed but another runner-up finish helped him cement second in the standings.

After initially dropping behind Marquez, Bezzecchi repassed the reigning champion on lap five before reeling in di Giannantonio, as Ducatis struggled to maintain their pace in the second half of the sprint. Passing his countryman into Copse, Bezzecchi grabbed third to secure a hard-fought podium on his comeback.

Alex Marquez was the best Ducati rider in fourth, albeit seven seconds down on Martin, after passing di Giannantonio late on in the race. Pedro Acosta guided the factory KTM to sixth ahead of Joan Mir’s Honda, with Franco Morbidelli finishing eighth for VR46

Meanwhile, Marc Marquez suffered a severe drop in performance in the second half of the race, as he barely hung on to ninth at the flag. Completing the top 10 was Honda’s Diogo Moreria, who nearly overtook Marquez on the run to the finish line.

The most high-profile retiree from the race was Fernandez, who tucked the front of his Trackhouse Aprilia at Turn 4 on lap four while chasing Bezzecchi for what was then fifth.

Home hero Cal Crutchlow and Fermin Aldeguer’s stand-in Iker Lecuona crashed on the opening lap of the race before remounting and pulling into the pits, joining Fernandez in the list of retirees.

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– The Autosport.com Team