Raul Fernandez surges to shock Italian MotoGP sprint win as Jorgen Martin makes history

[p]The Aprilia-Trackhouse rider finished over a second ahead of former world champion and fellow Spaniard Martin at Mugello, claiming his second win in motorcycling's premier class of racing.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/di-giannantonio-fabio/pI4o388M/"]Fabio Di Giannantonio[/a], who was fastest in all three practice sessions but started seventh on the grid, was over three seconds back in third.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fernandez-raul/dIyisVJD/"]Fernandez[/a] had to battle through the first qualifying session to have a shot at the top grid positions and he impressed again from the front row, where he was sandwiched between [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bezzecchi-marco/EXzAZEse/"]Bezzecchi[/a] and Martin.[/p][p]Second on the grid was Fernandez's best ever starting position and he then gambled with a medium rear tyre while the rest of the riders opted for a soft on a hot day in Tuscany.[/p][p]It was a gamble which paid off as he quickly tore ahead of Bezzecchi, who had qualified in pole position with a track record lap time, with only Martin able to stay anywhere near him.[/p][p][b]"I'm super happy, I'm speechless... I've felt great since yesterday (Friday), so I want to thank the team a lot," [/b]said Fernandez.[/p][p]"I tried (the medium) and it worked, so that's great. We'll try to win again tomorrow."[/p][embed guid="da7cccda-a88c-42a4-9011-26f3d4505a0a" url="https://x.com/MotoGP/status/2060738963661295982" social-type="twitter" /][p]Bezzecchi ended up finishing a disappointing fourth and the Aprilia rider is now 12 points in front of his teammate Martin ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix.[/p][p]Martin broke a record of his own by reaching the fastest speed ever clocked at Mugello with an astonishing 368.6 kilometres per hour (229 miles per hour), around 2 kph more than the previous quickest mark set by Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro.[/p][p][b]"It was one of the targets that we had. It's super exciting to reach the highest speed ever,"[/b] said Aprilia Racing Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini.[/p][p]"I'm not discounting reaching 370 kph because clearly, with the right wind direction and slipstream, another 2 kph is possible!"[/p][p]Italian Bezzecchi finished one place ahead of reigning world champion Marc Marquez, who was returning after shoulder surgery and a broken foot suffered in a spectacular crash at the French MotoGP earlier this month.[/p][p]The injury kept him out of the main race at Le Mans as well as the last race weekend in Barcelona, where his brother Alex Marquez suffered a horrific crash which means he will miss the GPs both in Mugello and next weekend in Hungary.[/p]