Martin recovers to win Austrian MotoGP sprint and retake championship lead

Aprilia's Jorge Martin recovered from an early incident to win the Austrian Grand Prix sprint at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on Saturday, September 19, 2026, and retake the MotoGP championship lead.

Martin had stormed to pole position ahead of reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez earlier on Saturday (September 18); the 28-year-old is the 2024 MotoGP champion and entered the weekend among the title contenders.

The race unraveled for Martin in the opening corners when Marquez forced him onto the defensive, Martin ran wide and dropped to eighth, allowing KTM's Pedro Acosta to take command and build a gap of nearly three seconds before crashing out with about three laps remaining at KTM's home circuit.

Martin carved his way back through the pack to claim victory, beating the Ducati rider to secure his 20th sprint win after Acosta's late crash.

"I enjoyed ‌the race for sure," Martin said. "I was a bit lucky with ​Pedro because we thought that I would be second. We started well but then we were on the limit on the ⁠first lap, so I thought my chances were over. "But then, lap by lap, I didn't give up during the race. I was pushing till my maximum, ‌trying to be super concentrated to come from the back and then win. The end was so good. "I am really happy for my team because they really deserve it. We are ready for tomorrow. I hope that we can continue at this pace."

"Today the target was third place in the sprint and ⁠I tried not to lose a lot of points against Jorge because it's ⁠already in practice that Pedro and Jorge had a better pace," Marquez said. "Then I found the position where I sat just behind Jorge, ‌and we were a bit lucky with Pedro's mistake. But happy and ready for tomorrow."

Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi, third in the championship standings, completed the podium; Trackhouse Aprilia's Ai Ogura finished fourth and Alex Marquez was fifth.

Martin now has 286 points in the standings, three ahead of Spanish compatriot Marquez, as the riders head into Sunday's Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.