MotoGP: Marvellous Martin takes Second Double

Jorge Martin does the double for the second time this season after winning both the Sprint and Main Race in the same weekend. He was joined on the podium by Marco Bezzecchi and Francesco Bagnaia who suffered a horrific crash last weekend in Barceona.

Martin got a great start from pole position and led from the front into the first corner. Bagnaia dropped down behind Bezzecchi off the start, but the factory Ducati rider was able to get past his compatriot around the outside of turn two.

The Italian pair kept close behind Martin during the first lap and Bagnaia had a look into the final corner of the first lap and second corner of the second lap but was unable to get past.

Brad Binder made his way past wildcard rider Dani Pedrosa on the second rider and the South African was also the fastest rider on the grid towards the start of the race and was even faster than the Ducati’s ahead of him on the track.

Bezzecchi was able to get past Bagnaia once again on lap six. The Mooney VR46 Ducati rider ran wide and was unable to keep the position.

The front four riders began to break away from Pedrosa and Bagnaia continued to trail the rear wheel of Martin, putting pressure on the Spaniard.

On lap 8, Binder crashed out of fourth place at turn fourteen, leaving the leading group being Martin, Bezzecchi and Bagnaia.

Two laps later, another KTM rider went out, this time Jack Miller after being involved in an incident with Michele Pirro. Fabio Di Giannantonio also got caught up in this incident but was able to continue following this.

Joan Mir crashed at turn four on lap 11 and Pol Espargaro crashed at turn one on lap 16. That crash was the Tech3 GASGAS riders fifth crash of the weekend.

By lap 17, Martin had begun to break away from the leading group and slowly extended his lead at the front. However, the Spaniard was given a track limits warning, meaning that if he exceeded them once more, he would need to take a long lap penalty. This would have dropped him out of the lead, so he made sure not to go over the white lines.

Marc Marquez had a relatively quiet race but on lap 17, he started using Maverick Vinales as a marker around the track, looking for a chance to try and overtake the Aprilia Racing rider.

Bagnaia was visibly struggling on the bike and on lap 19, Bezzechi passed him and Pedrosa gained 0.7s to him on the same lap. Pedrosa would have hoped to have found an opening to pass the Italian but was unable to.

Martin increased his gap to Bezzechi to 2.335s on lap 21 and this was the largest gap during the race because the Italian rider started setting faster lap times.

Miguel Olivera was able to pass M. Marquez at turn 8 on lap 22. On the same lap, Bagnaia ran wide at turn fourteen and Pedrosa closed the gap once more.

The battle for seventh place started well before lap 25 but M. Marquez had to block Raul Fernandez and Luca Marini continuously. Marini did get past on the final lap but at the end of the race, M. Marquez had regained seventh.

Jorge Martin stood on the top step of the podium for the second time of the season during the main race and closed the championship lead that third placed rider Francesco Bagnaia had over him. Third in the championship, Marco Bezzecchi also brought home a good haul of points for the Mooney VR46 Ducati team finishing the race in second.

Wildcard rider Pedrosa was the highest placed KTM rider in third followed by Vinales and Olivera, both on Aprilia’s. M. Marquez finished in seventh place followed by Raul Fernandez, Luca Marini, and Johann Zarco.

The final points positions were filled by Alex Marquez, Aleix Espargaro, Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder and Franco Morbidelli.

Feature Image Credit: Jorge Martin (@88jorgemartin) on X (formerly Twitter)

2023 SAN MARINO MOTOGP, MISANO – RACE RESULTS
POS	RIDER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/DIFF
1	Jorge Martin	SPA	Pramac Ducati (GP23)	41m 33.421s
2	Marco Bezzecchi	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)	+1.350s
3	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Ducati Lenovo (GP23)	+3.812s
4	Dani Pedrosa	SPA	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+4.481s
5	Maverick Viñales	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23)	+10.510s
6	Miguel Oliveira	POR	RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22)	+12.274s
7	Marc Marquez	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+13.576s
8	Raul Fernandez	SPA	RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22)	+14.091s
9	Luca Marini	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)	+14.982s
10	Johann Zarco	FRA	Pramac Ducati (GP23)	+15.484s
11	Alex Marquez	SPA	Gresini Ducati (GP22)	+15.702s
12	Aleix Espargaro	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23)	+15.878s
13	Fabio Quartararo	FRA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+15.898s
14	Brad Binder	RSA	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+23.778s
15	Franco Morbidelli	ITA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+24.579s
16	Augusto Fernandez	SPA	Tech3 GASGAS (RC16)*	+31.230s
17	Fabio Di Giannantonio	ITA	Gresini Ducati (GP22)	+32.537s
18	Stefan Bradl	GER	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+35.330s
19	Takaaki Nakagami	JPN	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+43.601s
	Pol Espargaro	SPA	Tech3 GASGAS (RC16)	DNF
	Joan Mir	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	DNF
	Jack Miller	AUS	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	DNF
	Michele Pirro	ITA	Aruba.it Ducati (GP23)	DNF