Jorge Martín emerged victorious in the sprint race at the French Grand Prix, demonstrating a strong start and consistent pace that allowed him to lead from the front—his preferred style.
“Always, I prepare the start very well and know what I want to do,” the Madrid native explained. “I was ready for any situation. My start turned out better than I expected, and when you move forward, you have more decision power than if you start poorly. I spotted gaps and slipped through; maybe I expected to be fourth or third, but being first by the second corner was a surprise.”
“We had worked on it, but I wasn’t fully aware of the exact pace with the hard front tire, which works best for us. So I just pushed and was on cloud nine, in ‘flow’ mode, without thinking. In the end, I had to ease off a bit because I had a gap.”
The race, however, was overshadowed by a heavy crash involving Marc Márquez. The eight-time world champion suffered his sixth fall of the season—his third in a sprint race—and spent over ten minutes in the medical center before returning to the Ducati garage without putting weight on his leg, a worrying sign.
“It’s alarming to see him stand up but walk less and less each time,” analyzed Dani Pedrosa. “That’s a bad symptom.”
Team doctors, led by Dr. Ángel Charte, attended to Márquez in the Ducati box, while crew chiefs stayed by his side instead of joining Pecco Bagnaia on the podium.
With this sprint win, Jorge Martín now holds the record for most Saturday race victories in MotoGP, with 18, moving ahead of Márquez, who remains on 17.
As for Álex Márquez, while the title mentions his lap times, the report provided no specific updates on his performance during the sprint, focusing instead on the dramatic events surrounding his brother and the victor.
