Following a long delay to help dry up the starting grid, the 11-lap sprint - shortened due to extreme heat and originally scheduled to start at 3:30pm local time - got under way just after 5pm at the Buddh International Circuit, with VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi starting from pole ahead of Pramac’s Martin and world champion Francesco Bagnaia.
Martin got the best launch of the trio and immediately grabbed the lead, while Bezzecchi was trying to consolidate second when his team-mate Luca Marini got the braking wrong for the tricky Turn 1, slamming into the back of his Ducati.
Marini was out on the spot, while Bezzecchi was forced to the back of the field.
This gave Martin some clear air as he navigated the opening right-hander, with championship leader Bagnaia moving to second on the factory Ducati ahead of factory Honda duo Joan Mir and Marc Marquez.
Martin was already a second clear of the chasing pack by the end of lap two, with his Pramac-run Ducati clearly quicker than the works-entered GP23 of Bagnaia.
Martin would pull out a lead of nearly three seconds by the middle part of the race, but eased off on the final lap to take the chequered flag by 1.4s.
It was Martin’s second consecutive sprint race win following his victory at Misano earlier this month, and helps him make further inroads into Bagnaia’s championship lead as he cuts it to 33 points.
Bagnaia initially came under pressure from the Honda of Marquez, who had cleared his team-mate Mir early on, but the Spaniard couldn’t keep up the pace in the second half of the race, allowing the Ducati rider to hold on to second position.
Source: Autosport