Jorge Martin wins Le Mans sprint as Marc Marquez completes stunning comeback

One of the worst starts of his career, if not the worst, Francesco Bagnaia had a shocking launch as he dropped from second to P14.

On the contrary, Marc Marquez made his way up from P13 to sixth following a brilliant triple overtake around the outside of turn two.

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Marquez then made another two quick overtakes, including a move on Maverick Vinales for P4 as he fired his Ducati to the inside at turn 11.

Marquez’ day then got even better as Aleix Espargaro, who was running third, was given a double Long Lap penalty due to jumping the start.

Further back, Bagnaia’s dreadful start to the sprint got worse as he was seen touring off the circuit with an issue.

At the front, Martin was still leading although his lead was being closed down by a charging Marco Bezzecchi.

Alex Rins suffered a crash on lap seven, while Espargaro took his second penalty but only lost one position.

Martin responded at the front as he built a lead of close to one second over Bezzecchi, who had a similar margin back to Marquez. 

The eight-time world champion continued his charge on laps eight and nine before Bezzecchi crashed out of P2.

Closing in on Vinales for the final podium spot, Bastianini got to within a second of the Aprilia rider with two laps to go.

However, the COTA winner responded and was able to halt the Italian’s charge.

Just behind Bastianini, rookie Pedro Acosta produced yet another stunning save for his 2024 collection, although in doing so he lost ground to Espargaro in fifth.