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The MotoGP title picture became ever-tighter with a victory for Jorge Martín in the Qatar GP sprint race, held under the floodlights of Lusail. Fabio Di Giannantonio and Luca Marini placed on the podium alongside the title challenger.
Behind them, Álex Márquez and Pecco Bagnaia completed a Top 5 of Ducati riders, followed by Maverick Viñales, Brad Binder, Fabio Quartararo and Augusto Fernández in the points-scoring positions.
Hard race for Marc Márquez and Joan Mir
Starting from seventh on the grid, Marc Márquez got off the line well and gained two places on the first corner. However, an incident on the third lap led to him losing several positions and dropping to ninth. He remained in a tussle with Zarco for a large part of the race, but in the final stages of the race he ran wide and finally crossed the finish line in eleventh position.
Behind, there was a difficult race for Joan Mir, who started twentieth. The Repsol Honda Team rider managed to stay on track despite incidents on the first lap. He had issues maintaining the pace when in eighteenth, eventually being passed with two laps to go, placing nineteenth.
The Qatar GP itself takes place on Sunday at 8pm local time.
Qatar GP: Race Results (11 laps)
| RIDER | TEAM | TIME |
| 1. Jorge Martín | DUCATI | 20:52.634 |
| 2. Fabio Di Giannantonio | DUCATI | +0.391 |
| 3. Luca Marini | DUCATI | +2.875 |
| 4. Álex Márquez | DUCATI | +3.370 |
| 5. Pecco Bagnaia | DUCATI | +3.957 |
| 6. Maverick Viñales | APRILIA | +4.239 |
| 7. Brad Binder | KTM | +5.761 |
| 8. Fabio Quartararo | YAMAHA | + 6.454 |
| 9. Augusto Fernández | GASGAS | +8.285 |
| 11. Marc Márquez | REPSOL HONDA | +9.596 |
| 19. Joan Mir | REPSOL HONDA | +28.446 |
General Standings
| RIDER | TEAM | TIME |
| 1. Pecco Bagnaia | DUCATI | 417 |
| 2. Jorge Martín | DUCATI | 410 |
| 3. Marco Bezzecchi | DUCATI | 323 |
| 4. Brad Binder | KTM | 257 |
| 5. Johann Zarco | DUCATI | 200 |
| 6. Aleix Espargaró | APRILIA | 198 |
| 7. Maverick Viñales | APRILIA | 179 |
| 8. Luca Marini | DUCATI | 178 |
| 9. Fabio Quartararo | YAMAHA | 158 |
| 10. Jack Miller | KTM | 156 |
| 14. Marc Márquez | REPSOL HONDA | 84 |
| 22. Joan Mir | REPSOL HONDA | 24 |
Statements
Marc Márquez
“We made a really good start to the race and had a strong first lap. Unfortunately, I had a race incident with Binder soon after, it happens. Then I got a bit stuck behind Zarco and I couldn’t get past him which limited us. Towards the end of the race I went wide at Turn 1 and had some contact with Raul Fernandez – sorry to him. At a track like Qatar, these things can happen because when you go off line even a little bit it is very slippery. Another one to tomorrow.”
Joan Mir
“Today was a really tough and we obviously can’t be happy with the result. There are some things that we need to check deeply to understand our situation better for the race tomorrow. I was expecting more from today because it looked like we had found the direction to follow on Friday. There’s another chance tomorrow so let’s see what’s possible.”