After a delay of almost two hours due to rain, the very first MotoGP race on Indian soil got under way on Saturday with the shortened sprint contest.
Run in dry conditions over 11 laps, Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin dominated the race by 1.389 seconds over championship leader Francesco Bagnaia.
It has cut the factory Ducati rider’s lead down to 33 points and marked Martin’s fourth sprint success of the 2023 season.
It also allowed Martin to pull further clear of VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi in second in the standings, with this gap up to 36 points.
Bezzecchi was forced into a recovery ride having gotten a bad launch from pole position in the sprint.
Team-mate Luca Marini got a better launch from fourth and was able to draw alongside Bezzecchi into Turn 1, but outbraked himself and collided with his team-mate.
Marini was taken out of the race on the spot while Bezzecchi recovered to fifth.
The former was taken to the medical centre for checks, which revealed he has suffered a fracture to his collarbone and will now go to hospital for further evaluation.
A brief statement from VR46 read: “Luca Marini has been diagnosed with a left collarbone fracture. He will be taken to the hospital for a further medical checks.”
VR46 has since confirmed that Marini will undergo surgery on his collarbone back home in Italy.
As such, he has been declared unfit by MotoGP to continue the Indian GP weekend on Sunday for the main race.
With the Japanese GP just a week away, Marini is also in doubt for the Motegi round.
He is the second rider to have been ruled out on Saturday from the remainder of the Indian GP due to injury.
Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez crashed heavily at the end of Q1 and suffered three rib fractures on the left side of his body.
He has since confirmed he will not take part in next week’s Japanese GP and is aiming to be back in action in October at the Indonesian GP.
Marini has been awarded a long lap penalty for the next grand prix in which he is fit to take part in.
