Martin is still recovering from a wrist injury sustained in the severe fall in Portugal that banned him from four races, but – similar to the Doha GP – absorbed all the pressure exerted on him by reigning world champion Mir turned out to be a sensational first win for himself and the team.
The race was stopped after a violent incident between Dani Pedrosa and Aprilias Lorenzo Savadori, which hit Pedrosa’s ailing KTM unseen at Turn 3 after the wildcard fell.
After a lengthy clean-up, the race was restarted at 2:40 p.m. over 27 laps with the starting order from the original start.
After leading the first two laps at the first start, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia had a nightmarish start to race two and fell significantly behind on the first lap.
Teammate Jack Miller took the lead on the second start after messing him up on his first try, while Poleman Martin was behind it, making a brief attack on the first.
Martin eventually found his way out against Miller on lap four at Turn 2, and Mir led his Suzuki to second shortly afterwards.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo climbed into third place on the factory Yamaha on lap seven at turn 3, and that battle raged through turns 4 and 6 – Quartararo defeated the Ducati rider.
But as a result, Martin and Mir at the front of the field were able to pull off more than a second, with the leading duo lagging behind for a large part of the race.
On lap 19, Martin began to stretch his legs and put eight tenths between himself and Mir, who would make a mistake three laps later when braking into Turn 3.
Martin’s lead increased to 1.2 seconds, and while the Pramac driver continued to set a strong pace, Mir waved the white flag for his attack.
Martin was not threatened in the final laps and finished 1.5 seconds ahead of Mir while Quartararo completed the podium to extend his lead in the championship.
Crash in turn 2
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Quartararo’s afternoon was relieved when Miller crashed into Turn 7 on lap 18, dealing a potentially fatal blow to his championship hopes as he lost 72 points off the lead.
A breathtaking attack from 16th place culminated in KTM’s Brad Binder finishing fourth after beating LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and Pramac’s Johann Zarco late.
Alex Rins finished seventh on the second Suzuki, while Marc Marquez recovered to eighth after going off the track in the first corner in the early stages.
The Honda rider had two collisions in the first corner with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro on both starts, the former leaving Espargaro completely angry.
The Aprilia rider retired early on the restart, while Marquez was eighth and ninth ahead of LCR Honda-mounted brother Alex.
After his frightening fall, Pedrosa restarted his replacement KTM and finished 10th in his first race since Valencia 2018.
He fell back to 11th place ahead of Enea Bastianini from Avintia, Valentino Rossi from Petronas SRT, his half-brother Luca Marini (Avintia) and Iker Lecuona from Tech 3.
Pol Espargaro finished without points on his Honda after a long lap penalty, with Tech 3 deputies Cal Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci in 17th and 18th places.
Maverick Vinales was last on the other factory Yamaha after being forced to start from the pit lane when he stalled his bike on the grid for restart.
After a long lap penalty due to track limits, it is the second of three races in which Vinales was the last to cross the finish line.
KTM’s Miguel Oliveira retired with a mechanical problem, while Savadori failed to restart.
Quartararo is now 40 points ahead of Zarco, while Mir has caught up slightly with 51 points.