Bagnaia wins Italian MotoGP sprint as Martin falls

Defending world champion Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati won the Italian MotoGP sprint at Mugello on Saturday, topping the podium ahead of Spanish pair Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta.

World championship leader Jorge Martin fell and failed to finish this seventh sprint of 20 Moto GP but he still leads Bagnaia by 27 points in the current campaign.

The Italian Franco Morbidelli of Ducati-Pramac took a surprising fourth place, just ahead of the Spaniard Maverick Vinales of Aprilia and the South African Brad Binder of KTM.

Your #TissotSprint heroes at Mugello 🤩

🥇 @PeccoBagnaia
🥈 @marcmarquez93
🥉 @37_pedroacosta #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/GJktouPtv5
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 1, 2024

The top 10 is completed by the Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio of Ducati-VR46 and the Spanish riders Alex Marquez of Ducati-Gresini, Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia and Raul Fernandez of Aprilia-Trackhouse.

In front of tens of thousands of his adoring tifosi supporters, Bagnaia won this sprint at the track where he emerged victorious in the past two years.

Ducati's double world champion had topped the times in practice at Mugello but the Turin-born star was penalised three places on the grid for Sunday's full GP after impeding Alex Marquez.

RESULT OF THE ITALIAN MOTOGP SPRINT:

1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 19min 30.251sec,

2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) at 1.469sec,

3. Pedro Acosta (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3) at 4.147,

4. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Ducati-Pramac) at 5.421,

5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) at 7.693,

6. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) at 8.271,

7. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA/Ducati-VR46) at 8.571,

8. Alex Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) at 8.846,

9. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) at 8.984,

10. Raul Fernandez (ESP/Aprilia-Trackhouse) at 10.085,

11. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46) at 10.199,