March 21 (Reuters) - Marc Marquez capitalised on a late error by Fabio di Giannantonio to win the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint on Saturday, sealing his first victory since fracturing his collarbone last year.
VR46 Racing’s Di Giannantonio, who started from pole, led for most of the race but ran wide at turn 12 with three laps remaining, allowing Ducati rider Marquez to take control.
Marquez held off a late challenge from Di Giannantonio to cross the line in 19 minutes 41.982 seconds, winning by 0.213 seconds.
"When I saw his mistake, I tried to attack," the Spaniard said.
"I knew it would be difficult to overtake him but he nearly lost the front and then went wide."
Jorge Martin was third and his Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi was fourth.
Seven-time MotoGP champion Marquez fractured his right collarbone at the Indonesian Grand Prix in October and Saturday's victory was his first in any format since the San Marino Grand Prix in September.
The sprint in Goiania was delayed by more than an hour as officials carried out urgent track repairs after a large hole was discovered near the starting line.
"The hole was out of the line so for that reason we were able to race," Marquez said.
"We prayed that big hole wasn't on the racing line because otherwise, it would have been impossible."
Marquez said that while he was happy to come away the winner of the sprint, his focus was on Sunday's race.
"Today we did it, we achieved our first victory in the sprint race," he said.
"Now tomorrow we have the main race, that is the most important race, but I'm happy."
Di Giannantonio will start in pole position for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, while Marquez will start third after a crash-filled qualifying session.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
