The MotoGP Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona Sprint gets underway this morning at at 15:00 local time. Francesco Bagnaia starts from pole position, while Jorge Martin can win the world title today if he out-scores Bagnaia by two points or more.
It's Sprint victory for Pecco Bagnaia in the MotoGP Sprint at Barcelona, as Enea Bastianini makes it a Ducati Lenovo Team 1-2, beating Martin to second place.
Aleix Espargaro fourth, and Alex Marquez rounds out the top five.
Bastianini passes Martin for second place on the final lap! He moves through at turn five.
Still 1.1 seconds for Bagnaia with a lap to go, and Bastianini is back to Martin's rear wheel.
1.1 seconds now to Martin for Bagnaia. Is he dropping back on purpose? Perhaps some late tyre issues?
1.4 seconds now for Bagnaia, as Martin maintains a small advantage over Bastianini, Marquez, and Espargaro behind.
Four laps to go, and Bagnaia now leads by 1.3 seconds, and Alex Marquez is coming on strong in fourth place, closing in on Bastianini for third.
Aleix Espargaro now up into fifth, passing Franco Morbidelli. It's been a decent Sprint from Espargaro but the start was terrible, and it's possibly cost him a podium.
Martin doing his job perfectly here. He has the same pace as Bagnaia, not really closing in, but he's getting away from Bastianini handily.
Bagnaia now leads by over one second from Martin, who is now pulling away from Bastianini in second place.
Bagnaia leads now by almost a second, and Bastianini seems to be backing Martin back towards Morbidelli and Marquez. But Martin makes the move again into turn one and he's back into second.
Bastianini back up into second place at turn one beginning lap four.
It's a half-second lead for Bagnaia over Martin at the end of lap three. Bad news for Bagnaia is with each passing lap they're pulling away from the likes of Morbidelli and Alex Marquez.
Bagnaia continues to lead, he's 0.4s ahead of Bastianini, but Martin makes his move into second at turn one beginning lap three.
Acosta's out. He made contact with Marc Marquez in turn three and lost his entire front fairing.
Bagnaia leads Bastianini over the line, and Morbidelli is going with the leaders, too.
We're underway in Barcelona, and it's Enea Bastianini who's made the holeshot ahead of Bagnaia, but Bagnaia leads at turn four from Martin and Bastianini.
The riders are off on their warm-up lap ahead of this Solidarity Sprint.
Five minutes until the beginning of the Sprint. Doesn't yet seem that anyone is changing their front tyre choice.
Tyre choice will be critical in this race. We currently have an air temperature of 19C and a track temperature of 20C, but both of those could drop over the course of the race.
On the sighting lap, everyone chose the soft rear tyre and hard front tyre, bar the following who chose the medium front:
But there's still time to change on the grid.
While it's only Martin and Bagnaia who can win the title, they're not the only ones who can play a role in the battle.
Martin's good friend Aleix Espargaro starts from second on the grid, and Bagnaia's future teammate Marc Marquez goes from third. Then, there is Bagnaia's fellow VR46 Academy rider Franco Morbidelli one place behind Martin on the grid in fifth, and Pedro Acosta - searching for his first MotoGP race win - in sixth.
While it's Bagnaia with pole position, it's clearly Martin with the advantage as afar as the championship goes coming into the Sprint. A 24-point lead for the Spanish rider means even if he crashes today, a third place tomorrow will win him the title.
Welcome back to Barcelona for the Sprint at this weekend's Solidarity Grand Prix. It's the final Sprint of the season, and Jorge Martin needs to score only two points more than Francesco Bagnaia to be crowned champion.
