Martín robs COTA sprint
Jorge Martín won the US MotoGP sprint at COTA by 0.755 seconds over Francesco Bagnaia and moved into the championship lead after a chaotic race that saw several top contenders crash out. ( ) The sprint produced big incidents — Marco Bezzecchi out and Marc Márquez penalised after a collision — and Martín even tipped over on his victory wheelie, fueling the post‑race headlines. ( )
The sprint reshuffled the points table: Jorge Martín sits top on 57 points, one ahead of Marco Bezzecchi on 56, with Pedro Acosta third on 49. (roadracingworld.com)) Pedro Acosta was handed an eight‑second post‑race tyre‑pressure sanction that dropped him from P3 to P8 and promoted Enea Bastianini to the official sprint podium. (crash.net)) FIM stewards have imposed a long‑lap penalty on Marc Márquez to be served during Sunday’s Grand Prix after finding he caused the opening‑lap collision with Fabio di Giannantonio. (motogp.com)) Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi and Ducati’s Luca Marini were each penalised two grid places for impeding in Q2, a ruling that pushes Bezzecchi off the front row for Sunday’s race. (motogp.com)) Team strategy played a decisive role: Martín was the only rider to start the sprint on the medium rear tyre, a one‑stop gamble credited with superior late‑race pace. (motorcycles.news)) Martín told media he expected a spill while attempting the celebratory wheelie and that the Austin result ended a roughly 500‑day win drought, though the in‑lap fall left his bike with damage before Sunday. (motorsport.com))
