Francesco Bagnaia takes his third consecutive victory at Jerez as Jorge Martin crashes out

Marc Marquez started from his 93rd Grand Prix pole position at his home round at Jerez and wanted to avenge his crash from the lead in the Tissot Sprint. Marco Bezzecchi who also crashed in the sprint was second ahead of Tissot Sprint winner and championship leader Jorge Martin in third. Francesco Bagnaia who also crashed in the sprint started from seventh with rookie Pedro Acosta in tenth, but suffered a high speed crash in warm-up.

The lights went out and it was Marquez who took the holeshot into turn one ahead of Martin and Bezzecchi with Pecco Bagnaia up to fourth.

Pecco out-braked Bezzecchi and Martin around the outside at turn six and moved into second place! Pecco then attacked Marquez into turn 13 and lead the race at the end of lap one.

Marquez overtook him immediately into turn one but ran wide and Martin moved up into second with Marquez going down to third.

Pecco out-braked himself into the final corner and had to sit up to avoid the wet patches and dropped behind Martin in second.

Wildcard and sprint podium finisher Dani Pedrosa crashed out at turn eight on lap four, meanwhile Bezzecchi passed Marquez into turn 13 to move into third.

A disastrous weekend for Aleix Espargaro came to an end on lap ten trying to pass Johann Zarco at turn five and took himself and the Frenchman down.

Jorge Martin locked the front and crashed out at turn six! The first big mistake from Martin this season and his 29 point championship lead was set to decrease with Pecco now inheriting the lead.

Marc Marquez made his move on Bezzecchi for second place at turn six with 12 laps to go, the gap to Bagnaia was 1.2 seconds.

Franky Morbidelli and Jack Miller collided at turn five and both went down with the Australian showing frustration at the Italian.

With five laps remaining Marquez passed Pecco into turn nine but Pecco repassed him into turn ten. Marquez tried again the following lap but ran wide and Pecco was back into the lead.

Pecco smashed the race lap record setting a 1:34.449! He was pushing to the limit to keep Marquez at bay.

Francesco Bagnaia held off Marc Marquez to take his third consecutive Grand Prix victory at Jerez and putting himself back into second place in the championship. Bezzecchi returned to the podium for the first time since India. Alex Marquez finished in fourth with Enea Bastianini in fifth.

Jorge Martin leads the championship on 92 points with Bagnaia 17 behind ahead of Bastianini and Acosta would finished in tenth.

Featured Image: Joel Cooper Photography