Marc Marquez won the 2026 Qatar MotoGP Sprint at Lusail and kept open the possibility of securing the championship in Sunday’s Grand Prix. The 11-lap race was interrupted by a red flag, then reshaped again when Marco Bezzecchi crashed out of the title contest and Fabio Di Giannantonio passed Jorge Martin on the final lap. Marquez’s victory leaves the championship mathematically alive before the closing rounds in Portimao and Valencia.

Bezzecchi began the weekend in the strongest possible position. The Aprilia rider took pole with a new Lusail lap record, ahead of Marquez and Di Giannantonio on the front row. He was leading Marquez when the opening race was stopped, but the restarted Sprint ended very differently for him.

On lap four of the restart, Bezzecchi went for the inside at Turn 1 as Marquez ran slightly wide. The Ducati moved back towards the racing line and the two motorcycles made contact. Marquez stayed upright, while Bezzecchi crashed and scored no points. That result officially ended Bezzecchi’s championship challenge. The Stewards investigated the incident and took no further action, despite Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola making clear that he was unhappy with the decision.

Martin’s late loss keeps Sunday relevant

Jorge Martin had qualified only 11th after complaining that Pedro Acosta had held him up, but the restarted grid put him in tenth. The Aprilia rider then charged through the field and reached second, briefly putting pressure on Marquez. He could not hold the position, however: Di Giannantonio overtook him on the final lap and moved ahead in the points that mattered to Marquez’s title calculation.

Before the Sprint, Marquez needed to outscore Martin by at least five points to preserve a mathematical opportunity to win the title in Qatar on Sunday. The broader calculation was considerably tougher. To clinch the championship before the final two rounds, the factory Ducati rider needed a 30-point advantage over Martin and an eight-point advantage over Bezzecchi, or seven points over Bezzecchi if he also won the Grand Prix. Bezzecchi’s retirement removed one part of that calculation, while Martin’s final-lap loss prevented him from closing the door completely.

A red flag changed the tyre choices

The original start lasted until the end of the first lap. Fermin Aldeguer hit Pecco Bagnaia at the final corner, sending Bagnaia into the incident and triggering the red flag. Bagnaia was conscious but was taken away on a stretcher. Aldeguer was given a double long-lap penalty for the restart.

The interruption made tyre decisions unusually important. Most of the field had selected the medium rear, the same choice used by the top nine riders in both Qatar Sprints the previous year. Michelin considered the soft rear a viable alternative, and Marquez and Di Giannantonio took that gamble for the initial start, along with Iker Lecuona, Diogo Moreira and Honda substitute Jake Dixon. Di Giannantonio changed to the medium rear for the restart, while Martin switched in the opposite direction to the soft.

Qualifying and a reshaped Qatar grid

Bezzecchi’s pole came after Marquez had initially taken the benchmark from Di Giannantonio’s Friday lap. Bezzecchi responded on the final qualifying run, while Di Giannantonio completed the front row. Acosta qualified eighth after progressing through Q1 and maintained his record of never being outqualified by a MotoGP team-mate. Iker Lecuona had placed ahead of him in Qualifying 1. Honda’s Jake Dixon qualified 17th, ahead of Tech3 KTM’s Maverick Viñales, for his first MotoGP race since making two starts with Petronas Yamaha SRT in 2021.

The Qatar grid was also missing all four Yamaha riders because Yamaha cited existing company-wide travel restrictions. Fabio Quartararo, factory team-mate Alex Rins, Pramac rider Jack Miller and Augusto Fernandez, who was standing in for the injured Toprak Razgatlioglu, therefore missed the season’s 20th round. Yamaha said the decision was independent of measures taken by MotoGP Group and the event organiser, while reaffirming its commitment to MotoGP and its intention to return at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

There were further substitutions at Honda and Gresini. Alex Marquez was absent after recent surgery and was replaced by Iker Lecuona, while Joan Mir remained sidelined by fatigue-related vision problems and was replaced by Dixon. Martin and Raul Fernandez returned after missing Sepang because of injuries, and Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer was back after breaking his hand at Mandalika. The weekend’s final Sprint result therefore emerged from a field already altered by absences, with the red flag, tyre changes, Bezzecchi’s crash and Di Giannantonio’s late pass deciding the immediate title picture.

Lusail reference figures

Fabio Di Giannantonio holds the 2026 Lusail best lap with a 1m 50.406s time on a Ducati. Marc Marquez retains the circuit’s fastest race lap, a 1m 52.561s set in 2025. The Sprint began at 7pm local time, or 4pm UK time.