An eight-second sanction for exceeding Michelin’s specified tire-pressure window demoted Pedro Acosta from third to eighth in the MotoGP Tissot Sprint at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), promoting Enea Bastianini onto the Sprint podium. Bastianini had started 12th and crossed the line fourth on track before the penalty was applied, giving him his second Sprint podium with the Tech3 #23 KTM. He called the result “an unexpected podium,” said “finally, there weren’t 20 bikes in front of me,” praised the soft-tyre choice and the bike’s top speed, and blamed a qualifying mistake, straightline instability and the crosswind — “my worst enemy” — for his low grid slot and lingering acceleration issues out of Turn 11. Bastianini added that the result restored his confidence after difficult weekends in Thailand and Brazil and he hoped to carry that momentum into Sunday’s main race.

The on-track Sprint was won by Jorge Martin, who took the 10-lap victory by 0.755 seconds over Francesco Bagnaia after a decisive last-lap pass. Martin rode an Aprilia on Michelin control tyres and used a medium rear for the move. Several incidents reshuffled the final classification: on the opening lap pole-sitter Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marc Márquez made contact and both crashed (Márquez was later handed a long-lap penalty); Marco Bezzecchi crashed out after running near the front and failed to finish; and Joan Mir crashed out of fourth on the final lap.

Martin’s Sprint win moved him to the top of the world championship standings on 57 points, one ahead of Marco Bezzecchi on 56, with Acosta third on 49 after the penalty.

Sources