The Mandalika sprint was decided by a first-corner incident that brought Marco Bezzecchi and Raúl Fernández down together. Davide Brivio, Trackhouse MotoGP’s team boss, placed the responsibility for the sequence on Marc Márquez and Jorge Martín, saying their attempt to gain positions had been excessively aggressive. The FIM MotoGP stewards did not announce an investigation into the incident.

Fabio Di Giannantonio started on the inside, with Márquez alongside him, while Bezzecchi and Fernández were on the outside. Fernández had taken pole position for the Sprint. Di Giannantonio ran slightly wide at Turn 1, forcing Márquez to sit up. Bezzecchi then had to do the same, and Fernández hit the rear of Bezzecchi’s Aprilia. Both riders were taken out, while Martín, who had been behind the group, emerged at the front through the confusion.

The crash carried a heavy championship cost for Bezzecchi, who was left 59 points behind in the title battle. Aprilia’s only podium representative was Ai Ogura, who finished second. Martín had appeared on course for victory, but an apparent tyre-pressure problem with five laps remaining forced him to reduce his pace. He later made a mistake at the penultimate corner with two laps to go, ran off track and finished fourth.

Márquez capitalised on the turn of events to claim his eighth sprint win of the season and move into the outright championship lead for the first time. His advantage over Martín stood at four points before Sunday’s Grand Prix. Fernández, meanwhile, had another chance to pursue the first victory of his career from pole position.