Sprint Race
The biggest shake up in Mo-
toGP history kicked off the 2023
season with the first-ever sprint
race, a 12-lap shootout in which
the MotoGP race resembled
a Moto3 encounter at times.
Marquez had qualified on pole
at a circuit he famously enjoys,
who led into turn one from Enea
Bastianini and Bagnaia, with
Martin snaking past both of
them to move into second place
by turn three.
Mir was out before the end
of the first lap after low-siding
into Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha),
which dropped the Frenchman
to the back of the pack, and
Marquez went from first to third
as the Ducati armada swallowed
him up down the front straight.
That was as good as it got for
Bastianini who was punted by a
wayward Luca Marini at turn five
on lap two, the resulting crash
breaking his right shoulder blade
and ruling him out of the remain
-
der of the weekend and possibly
the next race in Argentina.
The star of the sprint race
appeared to be Red Bull KTM's
new signing, Jack Miller, as
the Aussie marched steadily
forward on his RC16, taking
the fastest lap on lap four and
moving into the lead on lap six
ahead of Martin.
Miller was running a soft front
and soft rear tire, which eventu
-
ally started to deteriorate as
Martin, Bagnaia, Oliveira, Vinales
(Aprilia) and Marquez all found
a way past.
Starting the last lap, it was
Martin with the advantage but
he ran wide at turn five and
Bagnaia was through into a
lead he would never relinquish.
The home fans were cheering
on Oliveira, who looked to be
sealing a podium in his Aprilia
debut, but he too ran wide with
less than half a lap remaining,
dropping him to a disconsolate
seventh.
VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P69
Miguel and then in the medical center
I went to check on him—fortunately
it looks like he is OK and this is the
most important thing. On my side
I have some pain in my right hand
and with my knee but this is not so
important at the minute. I fully accept
and respect the penalty of the double
long-lap because I did a mistake."
12 MAVERICK VINALES
5TH/2ND MOTOGP
"This is a great result and I'm ex-
tremely proud of the work Aprilia is
doing," Maverick Vinales said. "Our
bike is truly complete and competi-
tive. But our goal is to stay out front,
so we need to keep working this way,
with a lot of grit, to improve even
further. In the race, I tried to stay
consistently close to Pecco, even
when I dropped back to let my tires
cool and then close the gap again. I
tried to keep the pressure on him all
the way to the end and we finished
really close, but he was good at not
making any mistakes and not giving
me any real openings to overtake.
Now we'll head to Argentina with lots
of confidence."
MYOWNRACE
Bagnaia leads
Maverick Vinales,
Marco Bezzecchi,
Jack Miller and Alex
Marquez early in
the feature race.
Marquez gets his
bowling ball on
and clatters into
Oliveira. It was a
truly brutal crash
but Oliveira didn't
break any bones.
Marquez did.
