Marc Marquez breezes to win the Tissot Sprint at Balaton Park

It was the first Tissot Sprint race at the new Balaton Park circuit in Hungary, Marc Marquez started from pole position ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio who both had to go through Q1. Pedro Acosta had been one of the strongest riders of the weekend, but a crash in Qualifying meant that The Shark started from seventh on the grid. Alex Marquez had a poor qualifying session and was in the middle of the fourth row in 11th and Francesco Bagnaia started from his worst grid position since the 2022 Portuguese Grand Prix in 15th.

The lights went out and Marquez took the holeshot into turn one, Fabio Quartararo started from sixth place completely out-braked himself and hit Bezzecchi and Enea Bastianini and the Frenchman was down. Franky Morbidelli was second ahead of Di Giannantonio and Luca Marini.

Diggia overtook his teammate Morbidelli at turn five to move into second, Bastianini then tried to pass Alex Rins but out-braked himself and hit the back of Johann Zarco and they were both down.

Joan Mir was in fifth to make it a HRC four-five, but on lap four Mir went wide at turn five and that allowed Fermin Aldeguer to move into fifth place.

Alex Marquez was stuck behind Red Bull KTM test rider Pol Espargaro who was replacing the injured Maverick Vinales, the Gresini Racing rider tried to pass Espargaro into turn nine but ran wide.

Acosta was in 11th after being caught up in the first corner collision, he tried to pass Jorge Martin into turn one but ran wide, he then tried into turn 11 and lost the front and was down, but he was able to rejoin the race in 17th.

On lap seven Alex Marquez overtook Espargaro into turn nine and made it stick to move into eighth place.

Marc Marquez had a 2.4 second lead over Di Giannantonio, his teammate Pecco Bagnaia was down in 14th behind Raul Fernandez.

Marc Marquez crossed the line to take a dominant victory in Hungary, the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Ducati’s finished in second and third with Di Giannantonio ahead of Morbidelli. Marini took his best finish on a Honda in fourth with Aldguer in fifth, Mir in sixth and Bezzecchi ended the train in seventh. Alex Marquez picked up two points in eighth and Espargaro took the final point in ninth. Bagnaia brought his Ducati in 13th.

Featured Image: Ducati Corse.