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Fernandez surges to shock Italian MotoGP sprint win, Martin breaks Mugello speed record / Photo: © AFP
Fernandez surges to shock Italian MotoGP sprint win, Martin breaks Mugello speed record
Spain's Raul Fernandez caused a major upset by speeding to a shock win in Saturday's sprint race at the Italian MotoGP, while Jorge Martin set a new speed record at Mugello as he chipped away at Marco Bezzecchi's championship lead.
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.
Fabio Di Giannantonio, who was fastest in all three practice sessions but started seventh on the grid, was over three seconds back in third.
Fernandez 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 Bezzecchi and Martin.
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.
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.
"I'm super happy, I'm speechless... I've felt great since yesterday (Friday), so I want to thank the team a lot," said Fernandez.
"I tried (the medium) and it worked, so that's great. We'll try to win again tomorrow."
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.
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.
"It was one of the targets that we had. It's super exciting to reach the highest speed ever," said Aprilia Racing Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini.
"I'm not discounting reaching 370 kph because clearly, with the right wind direction and slipstream, another 2 kph is possible!"
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.
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.
S.Yang--SG
