Bezzecchi Puts His Stamp on 1,000th MotoGP Race

The SHARK Grand Prix de France marked a significant milestone, it being the 1,000th MotoGP race. Marco Bezzecchi emerged victorious after a dramatic and action-packed race

- Azaman Chothia

Sprint Race

In the qualifying session, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) secured pole position. Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team), who returned to the grid after recovery, qualified in P2 and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Team) qualified in P3.

As the lights went out for the start of the race, Bagnaia got the holeshot and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) got into P2. At Turn Two, Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) made a move around the outside to wrest P2 from Miller. After a lap, Bagnaia was leading Martin with Miller in P3 and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Márquez in hot pursuit. In the second sector of the lap, Jack Miller crashed out at the Museum Corner and this promoted Márquez to P3.

Meanwhile, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was gaining momentum and managed to pass Marini as he set the fastest lap of the race and was in pursuit of the top three.

With 11 laps to go, Bagnaia was leading Martin, Márquez, and Binder. Soon thereafter, Martin lunged up the inside of Bagnaia to get into the lead. Martin then began to put the hammer down and opened up a lead of 0.7 seconds within just one lap. Meanwhile, Márquez and Binder were behind Bagnaia and a big reshuffle at the Dunlop Chicane saw Binder take advantage to get into P2, demoting Bagnaia to P3 and Márquez to P4. Marini then caught up to this battle and passed Bagnaia, who was struggling to keep up the pace.