Motorcycling-Martin recovers from early setback to win Austrian sprint and retake championship lead

MotoGP - San Marino Grand Prix - Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Misano, Italy - September 13, 2026 Aprilia Racing's Jorge Martin in action during the MotoGP race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini

SPIELBERG, Austria, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Aprilia's Jorge ⁠Martin made an extraordinary recovery from a chaotic opening-lap battle with championship rival Marc Marquez to ⁠win the Austrian Grand Prix sprint from pole position on Saturday and reclaim the MotoGP ‌championship lead.

Martin, who had stormed to pole position ahead of reigning MotoGP champion Marquez earlier on Saturday, beat the Ducati rider to claim his 20th sprint victory after KTM's Pedro Acosta crashed out while leading in the closing stages.

The 28-year-old Martin, the 2024 MotoGP ​champion, now has 286 points in the standings, three ahead of ⁠Spanish compatriot Marquez, heading into Sunday's Grand ⁠Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

Martin's race appeared to unravel in the opening corners when he ⁠was ‌forced on to the defensive by seven-time MotoGP champion Marquez, ran wide and dropped to eighth.

Acosta capitalised to take command and built a lead of nearly three seconds, only to crash out with ⁠about three laps remaining at KTM's home circuit.

Martin, meanwhile, carved his ​way back through the pack ‌to secure a remarkable victory.

"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."

Marquez had ⁠seized the championship lead for the first time this season by winning last weekend's chaotic San Marino Grand Prix. The result had left him level on points with Martin but the 33-year-old moved to the top of the standings by virtue of having won more races this season.

"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 with Alex Marquez fifth.

(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Goa; editing by Clare Fallon)

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MotoGP - 圣马力诺大奖赛 - 米萨诺世界巡回赛 Marco Simoncelli，意大利米萨诺 - 2026 年 9 月 13 日，Aprilia Racing 的 Jorge Martin 在 MotoGP 比赛中的表现 REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini

奥地利施皮尔贝格，9 月 19 日（路透社）——阿普利亚车队的豪尔赫·马丁在周六的奥地利大奖赛冲刺赛中，从杆位发车后，在与冠军竞争对手马克·马奎斯的混乱首圈较量中，上演了一场非凡的逆转，重新夺回了 MotoGP 锦标赛的领先地位。

马丁在周六早些时候力压卫冕 MotoGP 冠军马奎斯夺得杆位，随后在 KTM 车手佩德罗·阿科斯塔于比赛最后阶段领先时摔车退赛后，马丁击败了杜卡迪车手，赢得了他的第 20 个冲刺赛胜利。

28 岁的马丁是 2024 年 MotoGP 冠军，目前在积分榜上积 286 分，领先同胞西班牙车手马奎斯 3 分，即将迎来周日在斯皮尔伯格红牛环赛道举行的大奖赛。

马丁的比赛似乎在开局阶段就出现了转机，他被七届 MotoGP 冠军马奎斯逼入防守，冲出赛道，跌至第八名。

阿科斯塔抓住机会取得领先，并建立了近三秒的领先优势，但在 KTM 的主场赛道上，比赛还剩大约三圈时，他却摔车退赛了。

与此同时，马丁奋起直追，最终取得了一场惊人的胜利。

“我当然很享受这场比赛，”马丁说。“我和佩德罗之间有点幸运，因为我们原本以为我会拿到第二名。我们起步不错，但第一圈我们就达到了极限，所以我以为我的机会已经结束了。”

“但是，在比赛过程中，我一圈一圈地坚持不懈，没有放弃。我竭尽全力，努力保持高度专注，争取从后方追赶并最终获胜。结局太棒了。”

“我真为我的球队感到高兴，因为他们配得上这场胜利。我们已经为明天的比赛做好了准备。我希望我们能保持这样的势头。”

马奎兹凭借上周末混乱的圣马力诺大奖赛的胜利，首次在本赛季夺得车手积分榜榜首。虽然这一结果让他与马丁积分相同，但这位33岁的车手凭借本赛季赢得的比赛场次更多，跃居积分榜榜首。

“今天的目标是在冲刺中获得第三名，我努力不让豪尔赫丢掉太多分数，因为在训练中，佩德罗和豪尔赫的速度已经更快了，”马奎斯说。

“然后我找到了一个位置，就坐在豪尔赫身后，佩德罗的失误让我们有点幸运。但我很高兴，也为明天做好了准备。”

阿普利亚车队的马尔科·贝泽基在锦标赛积分榜上排名第三，登上领奖台。

Trackhouse Aprilia车队的Ai Ogura获得第四名，Alex Marquez获得第五名。

（果阿邦 Pearl Josephine Nazare 报道；Clare Fallon 编辑）

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