MotoGP Qatar, Márquez wins the Sprint after contact with Bezzecchi

The Qatar Sprint ends with Marc Márquez ahead of everyone, but with an episode destined to spark debate. At the start of lap four at Losail, the Spaniard and Marco Bezzecchi touch in Turn 1 while fighting for first position: the Italian crashes and his race ends there, while Márquez stays upright and goes on to take victory in the Sprint race.

Race direction does not intervene with a penalty and judges the episode a racing incident. In the closing stages, Fabio Di Giannantonio finishes second after overtaking Jorge Martín on the final lap. The Spanish rider, who started from 11th on the starting grid, completes the podium in third place and keeps Márquez's mathematical chance of clinching the World Championship on Sunday alive, if the Spaniard were to win and Martín finish on zero.

The race, however, had already been disrupted by a chaotic opening phase. After the contact between Fermín Aldeguer and Pecco Bagnaia, with the Ducati rider thrown off the track, the red flag comes out. The Sprint is shortened from 11 to 10 laps and restarts with the grid unchanged, with the exception of Bagnaia, who does not return so he can be taken to the circuit medical centre. Aldeguer has to serve a double long lap penalty.

The second start

At the second start Márquez gets away better than Bezzecchi and takes the lead. The Italian immediately tries to respond, the duel remains close and on lap two the Aprilia rider also manages to move ahead. Márquez replies immediately and takes back the lead, opening the most tense phase of the Sprint.

When the decisive contact arrives, Márquez slightly widens his line at the entry to Turn 1, Bezzecchi dives to the inside and the two make contact. The Ducati rider's airbag opens, but the Spaniard manages to stay on the bike. Bezzecchi, meanwhile, crashes and gives up any chance of a result there and then. From that moment the race changes and first place remains in Márquez's hands until the chequered flag.