Jorge Martin takes victory as nearly two thirds of the grid crash out

Marc Marquez started from pole position for the first time on a Ducati at a mild, cloudy and damp Jerez Circuit, he was joined by Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin on the front-row. Brad Binder was the only non-Ducati in the top nine in fourth place with Fabio Di Giannantonio in fifth, Alex Marquez in sixth, World Champion Francesco Bagnaia in seventh, Franky Morbidelli in eighth and Enea Bastianini in ninth. Rookie Pedro Acosta started tenth after a crash in qualifying with COTA race winner Maverick Vinales down in 11th alongside Aleix Espargaro in 12th.

The lights went out and it was Binder who took the holeshot ahead of Martin and both Marquez brothers and Pecco Bagnaia in fifth.

Bagnaia tried to pass Alex Marquez around the outside but ran wide and Bezzecchi took fifth place. Binder then hit a damp patch and Martin passed the South African to take the lead. On the opening lap Aleix Espargaro and Jack Miller crashed out at turns eight and thirteen.

Marc Marquez passed Binder at turn nine but Binder retook the place at turn 13 and then hit a damp patch and Alex Marquez took second place. Bagnaia, Bezzecchi and Binder were three abreast into turn one and Pecco got sandwiched and went down!

Fabio Di Giannantonio set the fastest lap of the race on lap two, but then slipped off on a damp patch at the final corner.

Marc Marquez started to close in on Martin, the gap had gone from 1.2 seconds to 0.6. Martin made a mistake at turn seven and Marquez took the lead at turn nine.

Lap nine was a lap of drama, Alex Marquez, Binder and Bastianini went down on a damp patch, then Marc Marquez hit a damp patch at turn nine and went down! That promoted Martin into the lead, Acosta into second and Vinales into third.

On lap ten Vinales went down and that meant Fabio Quartararo who started in 23rd position was in third with Dani Pedrosa in fourth and Johann Zarco in fifth.

On the last lap Martin controlled the gap and took home his second sprint win of the season and extended his championship lead which was now over Acosta by 29 points who finished in second with Quartararo holding off Pedrosa for third. Morbidelli passed Zarco at the final corner which caused the Frenchman to hit a damp patch and fall.

Raul Fernandez took sixth with Marc Marquez recovering to seventh despite riding through the back of Joan Mir and having to drop a place. Augusto Fernandez finished in eighth and Miguel Oliveira took the last point in ninth.

*Shortly after the sprint race Fabio Quartararo was given an eight second penalty due to low tyre pressure, which promoted Dany Pedrosa to third place*

Featured Images: Joel Cooper