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There were surprises further back. Martin started promisingly, avoiding Aldeguer, Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta's (Red Bull KTM) infighting to sit fourth on lap one, a place behind Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati). The Spaniard edged past on lap seven and held the position to the flag, with Di Giannantonio and Alex not far behind. Acosta was less than enamored with Aldeguer's early aggressive tactics—"stupid shit," he called them—which partly limited him to sixth and put his compatriot back to eighth on lap three. The lack of braking rear, while Bezzecchi chose the soft. "It was the same strategy as Aragon," Marquez said. "Lead from the first corner to stop the extra boost of the soft in the first laps and then manage from there." He did it to perfection, carefully managing a one- second advantage over the final laps. Bezzecchi never got close. Not that the Aprilia rider was fazed. Second was still his best Sprint result of the season. If he could deliver this performance on the soft rear, he reasoned, imagine the speed on his favored medium the following day. KTM ENGINE ISSUES "ALMOST KILLED US" KTM's Motorsport Director Pit Beirer admitted the engine issues that afflicted the factory's MotoGP efforts from Mugello until after the summer break "almost killed" their MotoGP project. The German revealed KTM lost seven engines in total due to faulty valves. "This year, I thought we go back to a normality, then this engine issue almost killed us. We lost completely control and could not react, with having a [faulty] part in the engine, having sealed engines. After last year's homologation, you're not even allowed to touch one part. We realized [we had the engine problem] in Mugello. We broke [three] engines on the same day. Something must have been [breaking suddenly] like a glass or a crystal, because it was happening around 50-100km. So it was clear there's something in there that is not normal." KTM's response was to switch to these older engines, which was more effective than reducing the rpm. MORBIDELLI PENALTY Franco Morbidelli copped a long-lap penalty due to riding "slow on line disturbing another rider." Since, he suggested some changes that could help MotoGP riders during sessions. "I'm dumber than the other riders, less savvy in these situations," he said. "When I watch Formula One, I see that when the drivers are doing their slow laps, which are more frequent than ours, they're always well-informed about who's coming up behind them and how far away they are, thanks to the radio. You have to keep track of so many things. In my opinion, the dashboard message, the radio message, and the blue flags would solve this annoying problem for riders." Briefly... ROUND 14 / SEPTEMBER 11-13, 2026 MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P82 Pedro Acosta (37) did as Acosta does, holding much of the pack at bay and bringing home third place when the other KTMs were miles behind.