Marc Marquez won a dramatic, red-flagged sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, MotoGP’s reigning world champion setting up match point for an eighth premier-class title with his 10th sprint victory of the season on Saturday.
Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
The Ducati rider, from second on the grid, took victory by 0.862secs from fellow Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio, with Aprilia’s world title contender Jorge Martin charging from 11th on the grid to finish a remarkable third, keeping his world championship hopes alive two weeks after fracturing his right wrist in a sprint race crash at the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
PIT TALK PODCAST: Michael and Matt review the Mexico City Grand Prix and the coronation of Kimi Antonelli as the youngest world champion in F1 history, discuss the fallout from the friction at Ferrari, and look at the 2027 driver market after the news Esteban Ocon has been released by Haas with immediate effect | Listen to Pit Talk
Marquez’s win, combined with Martin’s third place, boost Marquez’s championship lead to 49 points; if Marquez wins Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix and Martin fails to score a point, Marquez will secure the title with two rounds remaining.
The tense race reached its flashpoint on lap four when Marquez and Aprilia pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi collided at the second corner after Marquez ran wide from the lead, Bezzecchi diving to the inside and the riders making contact, Bezzecchi sliding off and out of championship contention after starting from his fifth pole position of the year.
Race stewards investigated the incident, but deemed no penalty was applicable.
Martin remarkably took the lead from Marquez briefly on the same lap before the world champion repassed, and built his lead to four-tenths of a second over Martin by lap five as Martin’s wrist injury began to bite hard.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
TALKING POINTS Sepang winner’s smooth run as Aussie, Yamaha to miss Qatar
EXPLAINED Why Grand Prix ‘nobody wants to go to’ is going ahead
Martin bravely held second until the final lap, when Di Giannantonio claimed second at the first corner, denying Martin an extra two world championship points as Marquez romped to his 10th sprint win in 20 starts this season.
The original race over 11 laps was red-flagged on the opening lap when Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer wiped out fellow Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia at the final corner, Bagnaia sent flying and laying prone beside the track before being reported conscious and taken from the circuit by ambulance to the track’s medical centre.
“It was a strange sprint race especially with the red flag, we hope ‘Pecco’ (Bagnaia) is OK because it was a nasty crash,” Marquez said after his 25th sprint race victory.
“I was super concentrated and defended in the best way possible. At turn one when I had the impact (with Bezzecchi), my airbag deployed … apart from that everything was fine, perfect. When I opened the gap, I tried to control the race and 12 points are very important.”
The 22-lap Qatar Grand Prix, round 20 of MotoGP’s 22-round 2026 season, will take place at 3pm (AEDT) on Monday.