Marc Marquez was victorious in the first MotoGP race to be held in Brazil in 22 years, Ducati’s reigning world champion winning a thrilling delayed sprint race in Goiania on Saturday.
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The Spaniard, from third on the grid and arriving in Brazil still underdone after recovering from late-season surgery after winning last year’s title, hunted down surprise pole-sitter Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati) in the closing stages of the 15-lap sprint, capitalising on a late-race mistake by the Italian rider at turn 13 with three laps remaining to take the lead and hold on to win by 0.213 seconds.
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Spaniard Jorge Martin, the 2024 MotoGP world champion who endured an injury-ravaged title defence last season, took his first podium for Aprilia in third place, 3.587secs adrift of Marquez.
Marquez’s sprint win was his 16th in the sport’s short-format races that debuted on the calendar for the 2023 season, tying him with Martin for the most over the past four seasons.
“An important victory, a super important victory,” Marquez, who missed the final five rounds of 2025 after he fractured his right shoulder in a crash on the opening lap of last October’s Indonesian Grand Prix, said.
“Especially because [in the opening round of 2026] in Thailand I was suffering. Here, I feel already a step [forward], but still not riding as I want. But we keep pushing, and we will try tomorrow to fight again with Fabio, who is super fast.”
Di Giannantonio bolted from pole to lead by 1.2 seconds after four laps, but Marquez steadily closed him down after pushing past early protagonist Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), halving Di Giannantonio’s margin by lap eight and then capitalising on the Italian’s error with three laps remaining.
Saturday’s sprint was delayed by over an hour after a sinkhole appeared on the final straight coming out of the final corner, with Goiania hammered by torrential rain in the days leading in to the first race at the circuit named after F1 legend Ayrton Senna since 1989.
Repeat flooding at the circuit required a sizeable clean-up operation to allow the race weekend to go ahead, and Saturday’s delay forced a reshuffle of the race program, Moto2 qualifying pushed to Sunday morning.
Australia’s Jack Miller, from 18th on the grid, finished last of the 19 riders to see the chequered flag in the sprint, the Yamaha rider finishing 23.807secs behind Marquez on the weekend of his 200th premier-class start.
KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who finished ninth, retained the championship lead by two points over Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, who has won the past three full-distance Grands Prix and finished fourth behind teammate Martin in Saturday’s sprint.
The 31-lap Brazilian Grand Prix, round two of MotoGP’s 22-round 2026 season, will take place at 5am (AEDT) on Monday.