MotoGP: Two wins and another record give Márquez championship lead as Michelin shines at Misano

Marc Márquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) scored another grand slam at the Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino and The Rimini Riviera, Round 14 of the 2026 MotoGP™ World Championship. Brother Álex (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) were second and third as Michelin contributed to new Misano records. Read on for more about what happened at the San Marino GP...

A fourth sprint/grand prix double for Marquez has promoted the Spaniard to the top of the provisional championship standings for the first time this season.

From second place at lights-out, he led Saturday's sprint from start to finish on medium Michelin Power slicks front and rear having swapped his rear tire at the last moment on the grid.

For the next day's main attraction, as the air and track temperatures climbed respectively to 28°C and 42°C, all the riders chose the medium front and rear. At the start of the 27-lap race, Marquez followed pole-winner Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) off the line to keep second place, but a mistake by the Aprilia rider second time around handed the lead to his Ducati rival, as Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) moved up to second.

The defending champion faced some intense pressure from Martín who managed to go in front on Lap 7 before relinquishing the lead to the chasing Spaniard five laps later. This time, nobody was able to prevent him from going on to collect his fourth sprint/grand prix double of the campaign.

In his wake, brother Marquez found a way past Martín to grab second on Lap 14 and ultimately joined Marc for the podium celebrations. Acosta ended up third, having also overtaken Martin (Lap 16) to claim his first-ever Misano top-three finish.

Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Martin completed the afternoon's top five.

Michelin's slicks contributed to a new track record (1m29.982s) when Bezzecchi was the only rider to squeeze beneath the 1m30s mark in qualifying. Later the same day, Marc Márquez completed the sprint race's 13 laps 4.4 seconds faster than the 2025 benchmark. On Sunday, he also established a new shortest race-duration for the grand prix itself, (41m13.013s), shaving 1.6s off the previous record posted in 2024 to provide yet another illustration of the performance and grip provided by Michelin's slicks.

The weekend's results mean Marc Márquez now tops the provisional championship table, equal on points with Martín but with a higher number of wins to his name. Bezzecchi (+33 points) is third.

Next round: Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Austria, Red Bull Ring, Spielberg (September 18-20).