Marc Marquez will have the chance to win his eighth MotoGP title on Sunday after storming to victory in a thrilling Qatar GP Sprint race at the Lusail International Circuit on Saturday.
Starting from second on the grid, Ducati's Marquez needed to finish Saturday's sprint with five more points than closest rival Jorge Martin in order to have his first shot at retaining his title, and he did exactly that. Marquez is now 49 points ahead of Martin, who put in a brilliant performance to finish third on his return from a broken right wrist, with two weekends to come in the season following Sunday's Grand Prix.
The 33-year-old overtook pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi on the first lap of a race which had to be restarted after his team-mate Francesco Bagnaia was sent flying off the track by Fermin Aldeguer. That heavy crash left two-time former world champion Bagnaia with fractures in his right foot, injuries that have ruled him out of Sunday's race.
"It was a strange sprint race especially with the red flag... I was super concentrated," said Marquez.
"When I opened a gap I tried to control the race and yeah, 12 points are very important."
Aprilia's Bezzecchi - who posted a record lap time in qualifying - is no longer a title contender after also crashing out, this time while trying to overtake Marquez.
In the meantime Bezzecchi's team-mate Martin worked his way up from 11th on the grid to be on Marquez's wheel, and a second-placed finish would have been enough to ensure the title race be pushed to the next GP weekend in Portimao.
But Martin, clearly in pain due to his wrist, slipped back to third behind Fabio Di Giannantonio on the final lap, giving Marquez his chance to win his eighth world crown - one more than his great rival Valentino Rossi.
However in order to seal the deal on Sunday and draw level for premier class titles with Giacomo Agostini, Marquez needs to win the GP and hope that Martin doesn't score a point. That seems unlikely as Martin only needs to finish 15th or higher to deny his compatriot for at least another fortnight, and his performance on Saturday showed how much he's willing to fight on.
"I'm really proud of the work I'm doing," said Martin. "When I was fighting with Marc it was really nice, finally I didn't have the power to keep pushing but to be here on the podium is incredible. For me it's already a victory."
