Marquez wins Hungary sprint, Quartararo causes start chaos
MotoGP

Marquez wins Hungary sprint, Quartararo causes start chaos

by Megan White
2 min read

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez cruised to his 13th sprint win in 14 rounds, after avoiding chaos at the first corner at new circuit Balaton Park.

The factory Ducati rider continued his unbeaten streak to again extend his championship lead as team-mate Pecco Bagnaia was consigned to his fifth non-score in the last nine sprints.

Marquez is now more than four perfect weekends' worth of points clear of second-placed Alex Marquez in the standings, with a 152-point advantage.

VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio was second with his joint-best sprint finish, ahead of Franco Morbidelli in third.

After another difficult qualifying in which he failed to make Q2, Bagnaia finished 13th, having started 15th.

Marquez got a good start off the line to escape trouble at Turn 1, as Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ran hot up the inside and made contact with Tech3’s Enea Bastianini.

The Frenchman ended up in the gravel, with Bastianini able to continue, while second-place starter Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and KTM’s Pedro Acosta were also forced to take evasive action.

The mess allowed both factory Hondas to leap ahead, Luca Marini and Joan Mir running fourth and fifth respectively out of Turn 1.

There was more contact later on lap 1 as Bastianini hit the rear of LCR’s sole representative Johann Zarco, ending both riders’ races and forcing Yamaha’s Alex Rins wide.

By lap 3, Marquez’s lead was over a second, with a further second back to Morbidelli.

Mir made a mistake and was passed by Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer for fifth soon after, while further back reigning champion Jorge Martin passed Acosta for 10th.

Soon after, the KTM rider, who had shown strong pace this weekend so far and led Friday’s practice, tried to retake position and slid off at Turn 11, though he was able to rejoin.

KTM team-mate Brad Binder had also encountered an issue, suffering a poor start before damage forced him to pit for a new fairing.

Alex Marquez made some progress, having started 11th, to eventually pass Tech3 stand-in Pol Espargaro for eighth.

His older brother finished two seconds clear of Di Giannantonio out front, with Morbidelli third and Marini in fourth with comfortably his best sprint finish for Honda.

Aldeguer and Mir were fifth and sixth, with Bezzecchi seventh ahead of Alex Marquez. Martin was ninth, with Espargaro rounding off the top 10.

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