Dutch MotoGP: Marquez records ninth sprint victory of season

Ducati’s Marc Marquez brushed aside two practice crashes to storm to his ninth sprint victory of the season at the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday to extend his MotoGP championship lead despite starting fourth on the grid at Assen.

Marquez finished ahead of his brother Alex of Gresini Racing and Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi claimed third place for his first sprint podium since 2023 while pole sitter Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha crashed with four laps to go.

Marc extends his lead in the championship to 43 points over Alex going into Sunday’s race while Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, third in the championship, could only manage fifth place behind VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio.

The victory will give Marc a significant psychological boost after he crashed twice in Friday’s practice, as he seeks a first race win at ‘The Cathedral of Speed’ since 2018.

“Today we breathe a lot… because my body cannot accept another big crash like yesterday. Today I was just calm, trying to control the situations,” Marc said.

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“It’s true that I didn’t expect the victory but I started fast and then I defended (my position). I tried not to make any big mistakes, didn’t exaggerate.

“The points are super important. Let’s see tomorrow if we can manage that T3 (turn 3) and turn 11-12 – that is my weak point here in the circuit.”

Quartararo had claimed his fourth pole position of the season in qualifying earlier on Saturday and the Frenchman led the pack into turn one when the lights went out.

However, he had to elbow Marc out of the way into turn one after the Spaniard had a blistering start off the line, with the Ducati rider leaning so close to him that his right shoulder briefly touched Quartararo’s boot.

Although he led for most of lap one, Quartararo could not match the pace of the Ducati bikes as Marc eventually took the lead in the final chicane, before Alex and Bezzecchi also overtook the Frenchman.

Bagnaia, meanwhile, had qualified second-fastest but he found himself going backwards when fellow Italian Di Giannantonio overtook him and moved up to fifth at the halfway mark of the sprint.

Marc nearly surrendered first place when he made a rare mistake and went wide, giving Alex an opportunity to pass him, but the elder Marquez brother quickly slammed the door shut to retain the lead.

Quartararo was on the limit as he pushed hard to stay with the lead group and the Yamaha rider’s sprint came to an end with four laps to go when he lost his balance at turn 10 and crashed.

But up front, Marc was in complete control as he took the chequered flag ahead of Alex, who finished second behind his brother once again.

“I’m a little bit frustrated but anyway I think we did a really good race, especially when he (Marc) was struggling in sector three,” Alex said.