Jorge Martin beat Francesco Bagnaia to win the 2026 United States Grand Prix with a last lap pass to win the Sprint Race on the day Marc Marquez crashed at COTA.
Fabio Di Giannantonio took the pole for the United States GP Earlier this Saturday, however, the VR46 star didn’t get off to a good start in the COTA Sprint. The Italian lost the lead. Bagnaya of Ducati Out of Turn 1, running deep as he tried to catch KTM’s fast rookie AC, Pedro Acosta.
Ducati star Marquez He smelled blood on the opening lap in Austin, Texas after taking P4 earlier. But while Turn 12 was one of Marquez’s strongest corners in COTA, he simply braked late and swept away. By Giantantonio went out. Marquez could never make the corner.
George Martin wins the COTA Sprint! Is the 2024 champion finally back?
However, the other Ducati Ace was on the move, with Bagnaia leading the front of the field as Marquez Desmosedici picked his GP26 off the grid. Aprilia Pilots Martin And Marco Bezecchi Taking advantage of their rivals’ misfortune, they soon took Acosta.
However, while Bezcicci faced no threat from Martin in second and third place, his chances of winning the Sprint at COTA were out of reach, which proved costly. Bezeci fell to turn 11 to chase down Bagnaya, opening the door for Martin to hunt down his foe.
As the Ducati rider damaged his rear tire and seemed to have lost all speed, he put in an impressive sprint to hunt down Martin Bagnaia. A chance to steal the lead finally presented itself to Martin on lap 12 on the last lap, but Bagnaia appeared to hang on to the braking early on.
But Martin was hit and didn’t have the brakes to come off, forcing Bagnaya to run deep. Martin took the lead and didn’t give Bagnaia a chance to hit back, putting his dream of a first win in any race format as an Aprilia rider in 2025 after an injury-plagued nightmare.
Martin’s celebrations were short-lived after winning the COTA Sprint, as the Spaniard crashed on a frozen lap heading into Parc Ferme. KTM rider Acosta finished in the top three in the COTA Sprint, but ended the race with a test due to tire pressure.
Full COTA Sprint Race Results at the 2026 MotoGP United States Grand Prix
| POS | RIDER | group | GAP |
| 1 | George Martin | Aprilia | 20:19.546 |
| 2 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | +0.755 s |
| 3 | Pedro Acosta | KTM | +2.484 s |
| 4 | Ine Bastianini | Tech3 | +3.199 s |
| 5 | Alex Marquez | Gresini | +3.638s |
| 6 | Luca Marini | Honda | +5.521s |
| 7 | No. Ogura | Tracking house | +7.183 s |
| 8 | Raul Fernandez | Tracking house | +8.634 s |
| 9 | Johann Zarko | LCR | + 10.574 s |
| 10 | Fermin Aldeguer | Gresini | +12,860 s |
| 11 | Fabio Quatararo | Yamaha | +13.757 s |
| 12 | Brad Binder | KTM | +14.567s |
| 13 | Franco Morbidelli | VR46 | + 16.019 s |
| 14 | Jack Miller | Pramak | +17.006 s |
| 15 | Joan Mir | Honda | +18.785 s |
| 16 | Alex Rin | Yamaha | +51.120 s |
| 17 | Mark Marquez | Ducati | +0.000 s |
| 18 | Marco Bezecchi | Aprilia | DNF |
| 19 | Fabio D’Giantantonio | VR46 | DNF |
| 20 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Pramak | DNF |
| 21 | Diogo Moreira | LCR | DNF |
Receive competition news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
