Silverstone (United Kingdom) (AFP) - MotoGP world championship leader Jorge Martin soared to victory in Saturday’s sprint race at the British Grand Prix.

The Spaniard earlier set a new lap record on the Silverstone circuit with 1min 56.160sec on his way to pole position for both Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s main race.

The Madrid native, the 2024 world champion, arrived at the first Grand Prix following the summer break as the leader, but on Friday he was overshadowed by his teammate Marco Bezzecchi.

Bezzecchi had blitzed to a lap record of 1min 56.280sec in practice on Friday despite fracturing a collarbone at the German MotoGP last time out.

“The bike is working really, really well. I’ve confidence in my team and in myself,” said Martin ahead of Sunday’s race.

Martin defended his pole position at the start of the sprint race and led for all ten laps to secure the victory in 19min 49.066sec, hitting speeds of up to 330 km/h.

Japan’s Ai Ogura was second at 1.530sec on another Aprilia from the Trackhouse team with Bezzecchi third 3.974sec off the pace.

Bezzecchi, who is recovering from double surgery on his collarbone and knee following a heavy crash in Germany in July, revealed that he was still “suffering” immensely on “the left part of (his) body everywhere”.

“On Sunday, I’ll try to survive,” he said with a smile, admitting that he had been “destroyed” by the exertion of Friday’s performance.

Spaniard Raul Fernandez of Aprilia Trackhouse started second on the grid behind Martin but was forced to abandon the race after a fall.

The first Ducati to cross the finish line was that of Spaniard Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini), who finished fourth.

Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio on another Ducati completed the top five.

Reigning world champion Marc Marquez was ninth on his Ducati.

After winning the 2024 title as a Ducati-Pramac rider, the 28-year-old Martin endured a nightmare 2025 season in his debut with Aprilia, marred by persistent injuries and a failed attempt to leave the team.

This year, aided by a string of retirements for Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez missing several races due to injury, Martin has taken the championship lead thanks to his consistency.

“For sure it was nice to get an amazing feeling this weekend,” said Martin.

“This was the most important thing for me more than the result to have my feeling again, to have my speed again.

“We’re out of a bit of the hole we were in and this gives us a lot of motivation. I knew it was a matter of time to get out of that situation.”

Saturday’s victory gives him a 17-point lead over Ogura, his closest rival in the riders’ championship.

Bezzecchi trails by 27 points, and Marc Marquez by a further two.