– Aprilia underlined its dominance in the 2026 MotoGP season also at the French Grand Prix. Jorge Martin caught up with Marco Bezzecchi, won the duel, and celebrated his first victory with the RS-GP. Behind Bezzecchi, Ai Ogura from the satellite team Trackhouse secured his first podium in the premier class.
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About 112,000 fans gathered at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans to follow the 27-lap race. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) did not get a good start from pole position. Bezzecchi took the lead in turn 1.
Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) attacked Pedro Acosta (KTM) and took second place, accompanied by the cheers of the French fans. After the first lap, Bezzecchi led ahead of Quartararo, Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati), and Bagnaia.
Sprint winner Martin was in seventh place at this time. At the start of the second lap, Bagnaia took fourth place from Di Giannantonio. Moments later, Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) crashed in the first chicane.
Acosta attacked Quartararo in the second lap, who was the only rider in the leading group to have chosen the soft front tire, and overtook the Yamaha star to take second place.
At the start of the fifth lap, Quartararo was overtaken by Bagnaia in the right-hand bend before the first chicane. The Ducati rider was thus third and attacked Acosta for the first time a lap later.
In the seventh lap, Bagnaia braked out the KTM in the first chicane and was the new second. Bezzecchi led at this point with a lead of about eight tenths of a second.
Bagnaia crashes while lying in second place
The Aprilia rider could not pull away, but Bagnaia and Acosta did not get closer than six tenths of a second. Because Martin and Di Giannantonio were dueling behind them, the chasing group initially lost some ground.
At the start of the 16th lap, Bagnaia crashed in the first chicane. At the apex, his front wheel folded in. For the tenth Grand Prix in a row, no rider from the Ducati factory team stood on the podium.
Acosta was now second but was caught by Martin. In the 18th lap, the former world champion overtook the KTM in the first chicane. Thus, there was an Aprilia one-two lead. Bezzecchi had a 1.6-second lead.
Martin catches Bezzecchi
Martin applied pressure and got closer to Bezzecchi lap by lap. Ogura was also on the rise and caught Acosta. At the start of the 23rd lap, the Japanese overtook the KTM, and there was an Aprilia one-three lead.
At the front, the stable duel for the win began five laps before the end of the race. At the start of the third-last lap, Martin overtook Bezzecchi in the first chicane and took the lead.
That decided the victory. Martin won a Grand Prix for the first time as an Aprilia rider. “It’s incredible. I don’t even know what to say,” says the “Martinator.” “I am so, so grateful to the fans.”
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“But of course, I also have to think of my family, my team, my girlfriend, my dog, and all the people who were with me during this difficult time. I have no words. So thank you, thank you.”
Bezzecchi defended the world championship lead as second but now has only a one-point lead over Martin (in the world championship standings). He took the defeat sportingly: “It was a very, very tough race, extremely long. I knew I was not the strongest.”
“Honestly, I don’t even know how I managed to lead for three-quarters of the race because my pace was not good, and I didn’t feel comfortable. I had a bit of trouble all weekend.”
“I never really felt good with the bike. So that was the maximum I could achieve. I really gave everything to get this result, and I am very happy. Congratulations to Jorge.”
First Japanese on the podium since 2012
With Ogura in third place, Aprilia celebrated a triple victory in the premier class for the first time. For the first time since Katsuyuki Nakasuga in Valencia 2012, a Japanese rider was back on the podium.
“What can I say, it just feels incredible,” Ogura is delighted. “The race was really tough. I tried to attack from the start, but I lost a few positions and had to fight back.”
Acosta fell back behind Di Giannantonio to fifth place at the end (to the results). Quartararo took sixth place. They were followed by Enea Bastianini (Tech3-KTM), Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia), and Fermin Aldeguer (VR46-Ducati).
Luca Marini (Honda) finished tenth. The other world championship points positions went to Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda), Alex Rins (Yamaha), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac-Yamaha), Franco Morbidelli (VR46-Ducati), and Jack Miller (Pramac-Yamaha).
Replacement rider Jonas Folger (Tech3-KTM) finished 16th. Rookie Diogo Moreira (LCR-Honda) retired in the eleventh lap due to a crash in the second sector. In the 20th lap, Joan Mir (Honda) crashed in the fourth sector.
One lap later, Brad Binder (KTM) crashed out in turn 7. There were already dramas at Pramac before the race. When the riders did their sighting lap 20 minutes before the start, Razgatlioglu rolled out with a smoking Yamaha.
He managed to get back to the box in time before the pit lane closed and went to the starting grid with the second motorcycle. The mechanics had to switch from wet to dry setup. Thus, he was able to participate in the race.
The next Grand Prix will take place next weekend. On May 17, the race will be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Catalonia on the MotoGP calendar.
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