Marc Marquez controlled the MotoGP sprint at the Aragon Grand Prix for his first win with Ducati, as a nightmare race for Pecco Bagnaia handed the championship lead back to Jorge Martin.
After morning rain washed away the rubber, and thus the grip, on the newly-resurfaced Motorland Aragon track, Marquez thoroughly dominated qualifying and came into the sprint as a strong favourite.
He kept the lead off the line, and while a Turn 12 error on the opening lap briefly brought Jorge Martin into attack range, that attack never materialised.
Instead, Marquez completely controlled the race from there on, winning by three seconds over Martin in the end.
Though not yet a full grand prix win, it is at least his first race victory since the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in October that year, and his first ever win in a MotoGP sprint.
Second place still proved plenty good for Martin as his main rival Pecco Bagnaia had a race in which nearly everything went wrong - and it went wrong immediately from the start.
Having qualified third, Bagnaia was among the riders on the much-dirtier part of the track, with many riders remarking through the weekend that grip was completely non-existent off the racing line.
"Clearly unacceptable, especially for the start," Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales, himself on that same part of the track on row four, told British broadcaster TNT. "It looks like you're going to start on a motocross track."
But even compared to those behind him, Bagnaia's start looked particularly dramatic, his Desmosedici bucking sideways before being reined in.
He was overtaken by not just Martin but Alex Marquez and Miguel Oliveira, though he quickly fought his way back past both.
But a recovery charge was not on the cards at all. Instead, a Turn 5 error dropped him behind the aforementioned pair again and into the clutches of KTM's Brad Binder.
Another mistake, this time at Turn 14, welcomed Binder through, and though Binder flirted with giving the place back through an error of his own, he had too much pace for Bagnaia.
Instead, Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo appeared behind the reigning champion. First, a Quartararo lunge sent both of them wide and allowed the charging Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia's team-mate, to overtake both round the outside.
Then, Quartararo finally got the move done, bagging eighth place on what has otherwise been a pretty torrid weekend for the aero-upgraded Yamaha.
Bagnaia just barely held on to ninth and the final point on offer, outdragging his good friend Marco Bezzecchi on the back straight on the final lap.
But Martin now has a three-point advantage in the standings, and looks in good shape to extend it further on Sunday.
Elsewhere, there was a sprint podium for Tech3 Gas Gas rider Pedro Acosta and standout fourth- and fifth-place finishes for the younger Marquez and Oliveira.
A look at the start line drama! 💥#AragonGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/ZKbmIIw7bk
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 31, 2024
Vinales' start fears came to fruition as he struggled on the opening lap and soon ended up cruising at the back, while his team-mate Aleix Espargaro had a horrific start and slammed into the back of VR46 Ducati's Fabio Di Giannantonio at Turn 1. Di Giannantonio somehow stayed on but Espargaro's race was over on the spot.
Also crashing were LCR Honda's qualifying hero Johann Zarco and Pramac rider Franco Morbidelli.
