June 27 (Reuters) - Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez delivered a dominant performance to win Saturday’s sprint race at the Dutch Grand Prix, overtaking pole sitter Jorge Martin on the third lap to claim his second sprint victory of the season.
Ai Ogura completed a landmark result for the team by finishing second, 0.362 seconds behind Fernandez, sealing Trackhouse’s first-ever 1-2 finish in a sprint race. The contest was also the first to be held under MotoGP’s new rules banning front holeshot devices.
"I think we found that we are quite strong. It is an amazing result for me and for the team," Fernandez, who took his maiden MotoGP sprint win at Mugello in May, said.
"The track was quite nice. I was quite fast in the final part of the race, but honestly, I was on my limit. We have to see what happens tomorrow."
Martin made a strong launch from pole but was overtaken by Fernandez, Di Giannantonio and Ogura, then slipped further as he battled teammate Bezzecchi for fourth.
Di Giannantonio took third after holding off Bezzecchi, while Martin faded to fifth.
"The race was really close. It was a shame that I lost a couple of spots in the first three laps. We know what we have to improve tomorrow," Ogura said.
Bezzecchi, who retired from the sprint at Brno a week ago before being banned from the grand prix for slapping a marshal, finished fourth to extend his championship lead by one point. The Aprilia rider now leads teammate Martin by nine points in the standings.
Marc Marquez finished seventh but was awarded sixth place after his Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia dropped a position after being penalised for exceeding track limits on the final chicane.
Gresini's Alex Marquez started the sprint race after missing qualifying and finished 13th, while Honda’s Joan Mir crashed out on the opening lap.
Di Giannantonio closed to within 22 points of Bezzecchi, with Marc Marquez a further 20 points back. Ogura sits on 143, one behind Marquez, ahead of Pedro Acosta (133) and Bagnaia (130).
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
