Jorge Martín won the Sprint of the French GP this Saturday (9), the fifth round of the 2026 MotoGP season. In the short race of the weekend, held at the Le Mans circuit, the Aprilia rider made a great start, jumping to the lead after starting from eighth place, and stayed in front throughout the 13 laps of the race. It was the 2024 world champion’s third Sprint victory in France.
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Second place went to Francesco Bagnaia, the Ducati rider who started from pole position but did not have the pace to keep up with Martín. Marco Bezzecchi, with the other official Aprilia team bike, was third, followed by Pedro Acosta, fourth with a KTM. The top five was completed by Fabio Quartararo, with a Yamaha.
Joan Mir, on a Honda, crossed the finish line in sixth place, finishing ahead of Ai Ogura, seventh with a Trackhouse Aprilia. Álex Márquez, with a Gresini Ducati, was eighth, while Diogo Moreira, the Brazilian from LCR Honda, closed the points zone in ninth place. Johann Zarco, with the other LCR Honda, was tenth.
The race featured some crashes, the most severe being suffered by Marc Márquez. The Spaniard saw his Ducati suffer a high side on the penultimate lap of the race, being catapulted to the ground. Despite the violence of the impact, the current world champion left the scene walking, but limping.
The MotoGP French GP will be held this Sunday (10), with the start scheduled for 9 a.m.
Check out how the race went
The Sprint started with an ambient temperature of 23°C in Le Mans. As soon as the red lights went out, Jorge Martín surprised by jumping from eighth position to the lead, with Marco Bezzecchi, his Aprilia teammate, moving up to second. Francesco Bagnaia, who started from pole, appeared in third, followed by Fabio Quartararo and Marc Márquez. Diogo Moreira gained three positions and advanced to 15th place.
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On the second lap, Bagnaia began attacking Bezzecchi, while Moreira moved up another position to 14th. Luca Marini and Jonas Folger crashed at turn 6 of the French circuit, leaving the short race of the weekend. Martín took advantage of the battle for second place and began to open a gap over his rivals, while Marc Márquez was overtaken by Pedro Acosta and Joan Mir, dropping to seventh.
Bagnaia managed to overtake Bezzecchi and moved up to second place on the third lap, while Moreira continued climbing the standings, jumping to 12th place. On the same lap, Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed at turn 3, leaving the race. Acosta overtook Quartararo and jumped to fourth position on lap 4. Up front, Martín maintained more than a second lead over his rivals.
On the sixth lap, Enea Bastianini fell, also abandoning the race in Le Mans. On the following lap, it was Franco Morbidelli’s turn to crash. The race entered a kind of “waiting period,” but Moreira was in 11th position, behind the Trackhouse duo, with Ai Ogura and Raúl Fernández in ninth and tenth places, respectively. In fifth, Quartararo defended his position from Mir’s attacks.
Martín continued with a comfortable margin in the lead, having a 1.5-second advantage over Bagnaia at the start of the 11th lap. Further back, Ogura overtook Álex Márquez on the penultimate lap, taking eighth place. Raúl Fernández crashed and was another to retire from the race, as was Marc Márquez, who suffered a severe high side, leaving the race.
Martín went on calmly to win the Sprint, followed by Bagnaia and Bezzecchi. Moreira finished ninth and scored points for the first time in short races in his career.
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