Martin wins opening sprint in Qatar

Spaniard Jorge Martin won the sprint at the MotoGP season opener in Qatar.

March 09, 2024

From: apa

The Ducati rider came out on top on Saturday just ahead of the South African Brad Binder (+0,548 seconds) from the Austrian motorcycle racing team KTM, while Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro (+0,729) came third in the short, eleven-lap race in Lusail. Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia had to settle for fourth place on his Ducati.

Superstar Marc Marquez finished fifth in his first race on a Ducati, while Spanish KTM super talent Pedro Acosta (19) came eighth in his debut for GasGas Tech3. In the previous qualifying, Martin had also secured pole position for the main race on Sunday (18.00 p.m.). Binder set the fourth fastest time and was therefore faster than Bagnaia (5th) and Marc Marquez (6th). Acosta took eighth place on the grid. The second KTM rider Jack Miller, tenth in the sprint, came in eleventh.