Jorge Martin took his fourth sprint race victory at the inaugural Indian GP at the Buddh International Circuit after a chaotic first lap. He was joined on the sprint race podium by Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez.
Martin got a brilliant start when the lights went out and immediately took the lead from pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi. The Italian rider cut across in front of his teammate Luca Marini and they were both involved in a crash, where the front wheel of Marini and the rear wheel of Bezzecchi made contact.
Marini went down and was taken to the medical centre where he was declared unfit due to a collarbone fracture.
Pol Espargaro, Stefan Bradl and Raul Fernandez were also involved in a turn one incident and Fernandez was the only rider to continue.
Jack Miller also had a good start gaining eight positions on lap one after a poor qualifying session this morning. His KTM teammate, Brad Binder, also improved on his starting position on the first lap by making his way to fifth place.
Marquez got past his Repsol Honda teammate Joan Mir on the second lap and looked incredibly strong on the laps that followed. Unfortunately, Mir lost various places on the fourth lap and then crashed at turn three, ultimately retiring there.
Martin continued to extend his lead at the front of the field to 1.8s by the fifth lap, but there was a charger coming through the field and that was the pole sitter.
Bezzecchi was tenth on the fifth lap and continued to set fastest laps and pass riders who were in his way. And he wasn’t stopping at tenth place.
Johann Zarco had a wobble on lap six and crashed at turn three but was able to rejoin the circuit.
Binder was looking at making a move on Marquez for the final place on the podium. The South African rider was looking for an opportunity to get past Marquez at all the corners on the track.
The gap at the front was extended to two seconds on lap seven and barring any mistakes, it looked as though Martin was on track for another sprint race win.
Polesitter Bezzecchi was able to get past Miller for sixth place on the following lap at turn twelve and then Aleix Espargaro crashed at turn thirteen on the same lap, causing a yellow flag.
Lovely move from Bez! 👏
He picks off @jackmilleraus! ⚔️#IndianGP 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/SksHZwaLKh
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 23, 2023
But Bezzecchi still wasn’t done with the overtakes as he got past Fabio Quartararo for fifth place on the final lap.
Jorge Martin crossed the finish line with a 1.389s lead from championship leader Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez rounded out the sprint podium. Binder finished just behind Marquez in fourth place and the charging Bezzecchi finished fifth. Quartararo had a positive Saturday in India, finishing in sixth place. The top ten was rounded out by Miller, Maverick Vinales, Raul Fernandez and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Feature Image Credit: @88jorgemartin on X (formerly Twitter)
| 2023 INDIAN MOTOGP, BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT – SPRINT RACE RESULTS | ||||
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/DIFF |
| 1 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP23) | 19m 18.836s |
| 2 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP23) | +1.389s |
| 3 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +2.405s |
| 4 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +2.904s |
| 5 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | +3.266s |
| 6 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +4.327s |
| 7 | Jack Miller | AUS | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +7.172s |
| 8 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23) | +8.798s |
| 9 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22) | +10.530s |
| 10 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP22) | +10.826s |
| 11 | Augusto Fernandez | SPA | Tech3 GASGAS (RC16) | +11.456s |
| 12 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22) | +15.415s |
| 13 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +17.437s |
| 14 | Michele Pirro | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP23) | +23.714s |
| 15 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +36.468s |
| Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23) | DNF | |
| Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP23) | DNF | |
| Joan Mir | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | DNF | |
| Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | DNF | |
| Pol Espargaro | SPA | Tech3 GASGAS (RC16) | DNF | |
| Stefan Bradl | GER | LCR Honda (RC213V) | DNF | |