Alex Marquez wins Catalan Grand Prix sprint in closest MotoGP finish ever

Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez banished the ghosts of last year’s home heartbreak to win the Catalan Grand Prix sprint by a whisker on May 16, edging out KTM’s Pedro Acosta by just 0.041 of a second in the closest sprint finish in MotoGP history.

The Spaniard’s redemption arc played out perfectly at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where he crashed out of a commanding lead in last year’s sprint, allowing older brother Marc to take the chequered flag.

This time, however, Alex Marquez held his nerve in a nail-biting duel with pole sitter Acosta to claim his first sprint victory of the season.

“I was trying to concentrate on myself, trying to be really on the pace,” he said.

“I struggled a little bit with the front tyre in the end, maybe I pushed a little bit too much in the beginning.

“So I need to improve for tomorrow in the management of the front tyre. But in the end, a victory today is also important.”

At the start, Acosta shot into the lead and defended his position well while LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco, who has never finished on the podium in a sprint, carved his way through to move up from fourth to second.

MARQUEZ SETS EARLY PACE

But Marquez was the early pace-setter, finding his way past French veteran Zarco before using his compatriot Acosta’s slipstream to seize the lead on lap 4.

Jorge Martin’s bid to seize the championship lead ended in the gravel after a costly mistake when the Aprilia rider crashed out at turn 10 – his fourth fall of the weekend – with marshals urging the desperate Spaniard not to rejoin the sprint.

Acosta appeared to be fading as even Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez swept past the 21-year-old KTM rider, leaving him scrambling to defend the final podium spot against a charging Fabio di Giannantonio.

But the youngster found a second wind with four laps remaining, reclaiming second from Fernandez.

DI GIANNANTONIO IMPRESSES

Two laps later, di Giannantonio moved up to third to put two Ducati bikes in podium places but he rued the fact that he did not have enough laps to fight for the win.

“I’m so happy about my race, about my comeback. We’ve done the job that we have to do but I’m a bit p****d because I did a mistake in qualifying,” he said.

“I started from second row, so it makes everything a little more difficult. I had the pace at the end, it was really fast. I was trying to catch the front group without making mistakes.”

But he kept a safe distance behind Marquez and Acosta as the two Spaniards battled it out for the lead until the finish line.

“We know that, at the moment, we are not in the level of Ducati,” Acosta said.

“We were, at the end of the race, finally battling with them. For this we have to be happy.”

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi finished ninth to take only one point, while Martin now sits two points behind his Aprilia teammate going into the May 17 race. REUTERS