Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez claimed his first MotoGP race victory on the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to grab the championship lead from his elder brother Marc, who crashed early within the race and completed twelfth.
After seven second-place finishes in sprints and races this season, Alex claimed a dream race win on house turf in entrance of greater than 100,000 followers, with the Spaniard imploring them to extend the amount even when he had a couple of corners left on the ultimate lap.
Fabio Quartararo completed second to offer Yamaha their first podium for the reason that 2023 Indonesian Grand Prix whereas Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia got here in third.
Marc squeezed his method by means of the group to embrace Alex within the winner’s circle as the 2 Spaniards grew to become the primary brothers to win in MotoGP.
However the day belonged to the Gresini rider who leads his elder sibling by one level within the standings after taking the chequered flag, which was waved by Spanish tennis participant Carlos Alcaraz.
“The most effective birthday current, wonderful. The primary one in Jerez is one thing wonderful,” stated Alex, who celebrated his twenty ninth birthday earlier this week.
“I can’t ask for extra. It was a race the place I used to be actually intelligent in all of the actions.”
An action-packed opening lap had pole sitter Quartararo get an ideal begin off the road to take the lead into flip one whereas Saturday’s dash winner Marc fell behind to fourth place.
Alex tried to overhaul three riders in entrance of him early on by threading the needle between bikes however he braked too late and fell behind whereas Marc and Bagnaia collided whereas jostling for place.
With Marc operating in third and trying to overtake his teammate, the Spaniard then crashed at flip seven and rejoined in twenty second place with a broken bike as 1000’s of followers across the circuit collectively groaned.
Bagnaia didn’t have time to chill out, nonetheless, as Alex got here up behind him and elbowed the Italian out of the best way to maneuver as much as second and put Quartararo in his sights.
The Yamaha rider tried his finest to maintain Alex at bay however on lap 11, the tempo of the Ducati proved far too superior as he overtook Quartararo to attract a roar from the Marquez Grandstand.
As soon as Alex was within the clear, he started to vanish into the gap whereas Bagnaia couldn’t catch up as he struggled to overhaul Quartararo, who doggedly held on to second place.
“Unimaginable, to be on the rostrum is tremendous particular — particularly with the hole to Alex and to maintain Pecco (Bagnaia) behind within the race was so troublesome,” stated Quartararo, the 2021 MotoGP champion.
“It’s been lengthy years however tremendous completely happy to be again on the rostrum in Jerez.”
SA’s Brad Binder was sixth on a KTM.
Reuters
