Martin wins and takes points lead, as Marquez and Bezzecchi crash

Aprilia MotoGP rider Jorge Martin won a thrilling sprint race at the Grand Prix of the Americas, as reigning champion Marc Marquez collided with poleman Fabio Di Giannantonio and former points leader Marco Bezzecchi crashed out.

Martin now leads the standings by one point over team-mate Bezzecchi.

He gambled on the medium rear tyre - the only rider in the field to do so, as all of his peers chose the soft - and suddenly eroded Pecco Bagnaia's lead in the final two laps before divebombing past.

Marquez was briefly up to second behind the fast-starting Bagnaia on the opening lap, but quickly dropped behind Pedro Acosta (who had lunged Di Giannantonio into Turn 1) and then Di Giannantonio.

He sought to reclaim the position with a distant lunge of his own at the end of the back straight and tucked the front deep into the corner, taking himself and Di Giannantonio down.

Both riders rejoined but ran well down the order. The move has been placed under investigation, with Marquez at risk of a penalty for Sunday.

"I think it's important to say that, this kind of move, you cannot make it," vented VR46 team manager Pablo Nieto, who admitted he "hoped" Marquez would be penalised.

Bagnaia, once in the clear, was initially under no real pressure, aided by Acosta acting as something of a rolling roadblock behind him in the early laps.

He looked on course to win - and his good friend Bezzecchi looked on course to extend his championship lead, having worked his way past Acosta and then Martin when Martin had a wobble exiting Turn 10.

But Bezzecchi then suddenly went down at Turn 1, tucking the front after his rear wheel had hopped earlier in the braking phase.

And then, as if out of nowhere, Martin began to take massive chunks out of Bagnaia's lead, arriving at the back of the long-time leader on the final lap and lunging into Turn 12, running Bagnaia out wide but keeping both bikes on the track - before going on to win by 0.755s.

He then had a bewildering crash on the back straight on the cooldown lap, falling off after bringing the front back down post-celebratory wheelie, though was fortunately unhurt.

A fading Acosta weathered race-long pressure from Joan Mir in the battle for what turned out to be the final podium spot, with Mir going down at Turn 1 on the final lap.

So Enea Bastianini picked up fourth instead, having cleared Alex Marquez. And he'd later be promoted to third, with Acosta put under investigation for an alleged tyre pressure infringement and then given an eight-second penalty that dropped him to eighth.

Luca Marini (Honda), Trackhouse Aprilia pair Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez all moved up a place too, with Acosta slotting in just

Johann Zarco took ninth for LCR Honda as the final points-scorer.

Results

1 Jorge Martin (Aprilia)
2 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.755s
3 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +3.199s
4 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +3.638s
5 Luca Marini (Honda) +5.521s
6 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +7.183s
7 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +8.634s
8 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +10.484s*
9 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +10.574s
10 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +12.860s
11 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +13.757s
12 Brad Binder (KTM) +14.567s
13 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +16.019s
14 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +17.006s
15 Joan Mir (Honda) +18.785s
16 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +51.120s
17 Marc Marquez (Ducati) +1 lap
DNF Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia)
DNF Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha)
DNF Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati)
DNF Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda)

*Includes 8s penalty