The afternoon session at COTA was a bit delayed, causing the sprint to start later than usual. However, Marco Bezzecchi had received a two-place grid penalty after he was slow on the racing line, but this penalty was only for Sunday’s race.

The start went well for Di Giannantonio and Acosta, who grabbed the lead into Turn 2. But Francesco Bagnaia used the chaos at Turn 1 and took the lead from Acosta at Turn 2.

Marc Márquez was in 4th, right behind Di Giannantonio. Meanwhile, Marini lost positions after the start, dropping down to 9th.

On the first lap, Marc Márquez crashed out while trying to overtake Di Giannantonio, bringing him down with him. It was certain that Marc would be under investigation after the race.

After the first lap, the top 10 looked as follows: Bagnaia, Acosta, Mir, Martin, Bezzecchi, Alex Márquez, Marini, Bastianini, Fernandez, Ogura.

Meanwhile, Bagnaia at the front started to build a gap to Acosta in second, while Mir in third was catching up to Acosta.

Jorge Martin, wanting to improve, caught up to Mir and moved up to 3rd place. He then overtook Acosta on lap 4, moving into 2nd place and starting to close in on Bagnaia in the lead. The tyre options varied, with some riders choosing softs and others mediums. Fermín Aldeguer was the only rider with a track limits warning so early in the session.

And just like his teammate, Bezzecchi moved up to third after overtaking both Mir and Acosta.

On lap 5, the top 10 looked as follows: Bagnaia, Martin, Bezzecchi, Acosta, Mir, Alex Márquez, Marini, Bastianini, Fernandez, Ogura.

Meanwhile, Bezzecchi caught up to his teammate Martin, starting a battle for 2nd place. It didn’t take long before Bezzecchi moved up to 2nd place ahead of his teammate. At the front, Bagnaia had a gap of 1.4 seconds.

Bezzecchi, who had a strong sprint so far, crashed out with 3 laps to go, retiring from the sprint race. Shortly after, another crash happened, with Alex Rins falling at Turn 1.

But Mir caught up to Acosta for 3rd, preparing an overtake towards the finish. Meanwhile, Bastianini attempted a great overtaking opportunity, but went wide, allowing Alex Márquez to retake his position.

While Joan Mir had a very good sprint, he crashed out with 1 lap to go. But Martin caught up to Bagnaia, battling for 1st place on the last lap. Martin used the slipstream on the long straight and sent it up the inside, moving into 1st place. Bagnaia lost his lead with just a few turns before the finish line.

Jorge Martin won the sprint race, moving into the championship lead. It was a comeback for Martin after 511 days without a win. However, while celebrating his sprint victory, Martin crashed on the straight.

Pedro Acosta, meanwhile, was under investigation for tyre pressure.