VOLUME 63 ISSUE 25 JUNE 23, 2026 P87
MotoGP Sprint
The first signs that the weekend
would play out differently came in
qualifying. Ogura smashed the pre-
vious year's record by 1.1 seconds
for
an amazing maiden MotoGP
pole, with Fabio Di Giannantonio
(VR46 Ducati) second and Pecco
Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) third.
It was a battle of wits on the
grid. Most riders waited until the
accidentally when retrieving it
from the gravel. But the Ital-
ian's reaction, first a push, then
a slap,
was "unacceptable" in
Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo
Rivola's eyes. With Marquez
honing into view, the Italian
picked a terrible time to score a
second Sunday zero in succes
-
sion and torch his reputation in
the process.
The cracks in his
game are appearing.
final minutes to fit their rear
tires, while the factory Ducatis
gambled on Michelin's soft. As
track temperatures approached
120 degrees, Ogura and Di
Giannantonio opted for the
medium.
Viewed one way, the following
10 laps were tedious, with the top
four unchanged after lap one. But
this was a tense affair, with the
battle for victory going to the wire.
Keen to get the best of his rear
tire, Bagnaia passed Ogura on the
run to turn one, while Marquez
made short work of Di Giannanto
-
nio to climb to third.
With clear
air ahead, Bagnaia
quickly found his rhythm, stretch-
ing his lead to a second on lap
four.
As many predicted, Ogura
came back on him, getting to
within two-tenths of a second
with two to go. But the tempera-
tures made front-tire pressure
critical, making overtaking
tricky.
Marquez, just half a second
behind Ogura, found the same,
meaning they remained in that
order over the finish line.
Further drama unfolded
behind. Two seconds back of
Di Giannantonio and one clear
of Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing)
HRC Castrol team because they did
a great job this whole weekend, and
we were able to overcome the dip
we had in Q2. I had a lot of belief in
myself and in this decision with the
soft tire. We were only gifted one
position due to Acosta's issue. This
is realistically what I can do at the
moment. The goal is to perform like
this every weekend; we are still taking
it race by race. Let's bring this feeling
to Assen."
MYOWNRACE
Marquez leads the field
en route to victory.
He is now 40 points
behind championship
leader Marco
Bezzecchi.
