Jorge Martín won the French GP this Sunday (10), the fifth round of the 2026 MotoGP season. In one of the most exciting races at the Le Mans circuit, the Aprilia rider climbed through the pack and took the lead with only three of the 27 laps remaining. It is the first victory of the Spanish rider, 2024 world champion, in main races this year.
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Second place went to Marco Bezzecchi, who led most of the race but could not withstand Martín’s attack, completing an Aprilia one-two. Ai Ogura, from Trackhouse, Aprilia’s satellite team, completed the podium in third place, followed by Di Giannantonio, Ducati VR46 rider who overtook Pedro Acosta in the final meters, leaving the KTM rider in fifth.
Fabio Quartararo, with Yamaha, finished the race in sixth place, ahead of Enea Bastianini, seventh with a Tech3 KTM. Raúl Fernández, with the Trackhouse Aprilia, was eighth, with Luca Marini, from Honda, in ninth. The top ten group also included Johann Zarco, from LCR Honda.
The only Brazilian on the MotoGP grid, Diogo Moreira retired from the race. The LCR Honda rider started from 17th position and appeared in 15th twice, fighting for a points position when he crashed on the 11th lap, leaving the French GP. Earlier, on the second lap, Álex Márquez crashed and retired.
The next MotoGP round will be held next Sunday (17), with the Catalan GP scheduled at the Barcelona Circuit.
Check out how the race went
The race in Le Mans started with Marco Bezzecchi jumping to the lead, followed by Pedro Acosta, while Fabio Quartararo moved up to third, with Fabio Di Giannantonio in fourth and Francesco Bagnaia, who started from pole position, dropping to fifth. Diogo Moreira advanced to 15th. Still on the first lap, Quartararo moved up to second by overtaking Acosta.
At the end of the first lap, Johann Zarco made a mistake and dropped down the classification. Bagnaia began to recover and passed Di Giannantonio to take fourth place, while Álex Márquez crashed with the Gresini Ducati, retiring from the race. Acosta, taking advantage of the better KTM engine performance, overtook Quartararo to regain second place.
While Bezzecchi maintained a lead of just three tenths over Acosta, Moreira started fighting for 13th position with Zarco, his teammate. A little further ahead, Joan Mir attacked Ai Ogura for sixth place in a battle between Honda and Trackhouse riders, Aprilia’s satellite team.
On the fourth lap, Moreira dropped to 18th place, leaving the points zone. At the front pack, Bagnaia launched an attack on Quartararo for third place, managing to overtake at the start of the fifth lap. In the lead, Bezzecchi maintained a four-tenths gap, enough to avoid being attacked by Acosta.
On the sixth lap, Bagnaia began attacking Acosta for second place, which allowed Bezzecchi to extend the gap to the two to about eight tenths. The Ducati rider made the outside pass at turn 2 of the Le Mans circuit. A little further back, Quartararo was overtaken by Di Giannantonio and Jorge Martín, dropping to sixth place.
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At the start of the eighth lap, Bezzecchi had a nine-tenths advantage over Bagnaia, who despite battling for position with Acosta, was faster than the leader on the previous lap. Further back, Moreira returned to the points zone by overtaking Toprak Razgatlioglu, taking 15th place. Ogura tried to overtake Quartararo but was overtaken by Mir, dropping to eighth.
On the ninth lap, Martín passed Di Giannantonio, taking fourth place. Up front, Bagnaia was quickly reducing Bezzecchi’s lead, having cut 0.341 seconds on the previous lap, and was six tenths behind the championship leader. Despite this, Acosta, in third place, remained close to the Italian Ducati rider.
Ogura, who regained Mir’s position, overtook Quartararo on the 11th lap, moving up to sixth place. Moments later, Moreira crashed and retired from the Le Mans race. Bezzecchi, meanwhile, managed to hold off Bagnaia’s approach, maintaining at least a half-second gap on the 13th lap.
Without pace, Quartararo began to be attacked by Mir on the 14th lap, battling for seventh place. With the two fighting, Enea Bastianini closed in. Further ahead, it was Acosta’s turn to attack Bagnaia for second place. The Italian Ducati rider, however, crashed on lap 16, leaving the race and allowing Bezzecchi to have a one-second lead over Acosta.
Without Bagnaia, Acosta started dueling with Martín for second place, managing the move at the start of the 18th lap. Bezzecchi by then had a 1.6-second advantage over his Aprilia teammate. One lap later, Mir finally passed Quartararo and took sixth place from the Yamaha rider.
Martín quickly cut the gap to Bezzecchi, who dropped to eight tenths on the 20th lap. A little further back, Ogura rapidly closed in on Di Giannantonio, the fourth-placed rider, overtaking on lap 21. Moments earlier, Mir crashed with the Honda and left the race, which also happened shortly after with Brad Binder.
Ogura, with strong race pace, overtook Martín on lap 23 to take third place. At the front, Martín launched an attack on Bezzecchi, making the move with three laps remaining and quickly opening a gap. Ogura also started reducing the gap to Bezzecchi.
Di Giannantonio began attacking Acosta in the final laps, managing to take fourth place in the final meters. Up front, Martín went on to win, with Bezzecchi second and Ogura third.
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