Coming into Saturday’s sprint at Losail trailing Francesco Bagnaia by 14 points, the latter could have won the 2023 title this weekend.
However, Martin’s charge to victory in the sprint and Bagnaia struggling to fifth means the gap between them shrinks to seven, ensuring the title battle will go to the final round of the year in Valencia next weekend.
Di Giannantonio scored a first podium of the season on his Gresini Ducati as he looks to earn a place on the MotoGP grid next year, while poleman Luca Marini was third.
VR46 Ducati rider Marini converted pole to the holeshot off the line at the start of the 11-lap sprint, while Gresini’s Alex Marquez jumped up to second.
Martin and Bagnaia made contact at Turn 1, the Pramac rider barging his way through into third ahead of his factory Ducati team rival.
At Turn 4, Martin ran wide and allowed Bagnaia and Honda’s Marc Marquez through, demoting him to fifth.
However, Martin eased by Marquez on the main straight to move up to fourth at the start of the second lap, before taking third from Bagnaia at Turn 10 with another aggressive overtake on his championship rival.
Just up the road, Alex Marquez launched an assault on Marini’s lead through Turns 12 and 13, but ran wide and let the VR46 rider through again.
Source: Autosport