Ducati’s world championship leader Marc Marquez recovered from a poor start to win Saturday’s sprint at the Aragon Grand Prix ahead of his brother Alex and Fermin Aldeguer of Gresini Racing for an all-Spanish podium on home soil.
Marc’s seventh sprint victory of the season in eight rounds moved him 27 points clear of Alex in the championship, with the Ducati rider winning by more than two seconds.
Marc had broken the lap record in qualifying to take pole but he started poorly, losing traction due to wheelspin, to briefly drop to fourth when he was shoulder-barged aside by Pedro Acosta.
Alex, meanwhile, shot off the line to take the lead going into turn one but Marc moved up to second with a neat overtake on turn one of the second lap, setting his sights on Alex.
The younger brother managed to hold on for a few laps but Marc pounced once again on turn one, diving in on the inside at the start of the sixth lap to take first place as the home crowd roared in appreciation.
“I had a small problem in the start because I started spinning the rear tyre and then I was able to manage and not lose a lot of positions,” Marc said.
“My plan was try to lead from the beginning until the end but I saw that Alex was pushing a lot on the first two-three laps. That was my weak point, with the soft rear tyre.
“(But I) was calm and then in the end of the race the feeling was great, it was perfect.”
Once Marc moved into the lead, the two brothers disappeared into the distance, even as Marc continued to widen the gap, while Alex’s Gresini team mate Aldeguer reeled in Franco Morbidelli and eased past him to take third with three laps left.
VR46 Racing’s Morbidelli finished fourth and Red Bull KTM’s Acosta pipped Fabio Di Giannantonio to fifth place.
Marc’s team mate and twice MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia had another race to forget as the Italian, who started fourth on the grid, finished 12th as he continued to struggle with his Ducati bike.
Bagnaia is still third in the championship but he now sits 84 points behind Marc.
