NEW DELHI: Jorge Martin extended his lead in the MotoGP standings as he won the Spanish Grand Prix sprint in Jerez on Saturday after Marc Marquez crashed out while leading late in the race.
Teenager Pedro Acosta was runner up to take second in the championship race with former world champion Fabio Quartararo third as nine riders failed to finish.
All three podium finishers described the track, dappled with damp after morning rain, as tricky.
“A difficult race, the track conditions were super hard,” said Martin in his on-track interview.
Marquez, with his first pole since joining Ducati Gresini, and Martin started on the front row, but South African Brad Binder shot off from the second row to grab the lead on his KTM.
Spaniard Martin, on a Ducati-Pramac, overtook on lap two and pulled away from the chaotic battle behind him as riders kept tumbling.
Two-time defending champion Francesco Bagnaia went down on lap three. Binder squeezed past on the inside, forcing the Italian into another bike. Bagnaia’s Ducati went flying, out of the race and out of the points. Agencies
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