He would make a series of quick passes on riders ahead like Bastianini, Miller, Martin, and the eventual race winner Maverick Vinales before finding himself in second place. But this is when Marquez would make a crucial error.
In an attempt to close down race leader Pecco Bagnaia, Marquez got his bike out of shape in turn five and was forced to go wide, allowing Vinales and Martin through.

With Bagnaia’s mistake forcing him to go wide in turn one and relinquishing positions to the top three, Marquez was promoted to third place right behind Martin. Marquez would then close in on Jorge Martin in the last lap to make a bold move in turn 5 and overtake Martin for second place.

“I mean, I’m happy, I’m super happy for that sprint race, first podium! ” said Marc Marquez. “It’s a sprint race, but first podium [nonetheless].”

“It’s true that for Saturday overall, I’m happy, but we did a big mistake on that qualifying practice [with the crash], so starting in 8th position penalized [us] a lot.”

Speaking about his violent crash in qualifying which resulted in him qualifying down in 8th place, Marquez felt that he had activated the ride height device at the wrong time which resulted in him losing the rear at the high-speed last corner:

“I made a mistake in the qualifying practice that I was able to avoid, ” said the Spaniard. “Because I engaged the rear height device too early, and then the bike was sitting, then I crashed.”

“[So] I didn’t expect the podium, ” said Marquez. “Especially because in the qualifying practice I did a massive mistake where I crashed on that first tire and then starting in 8th position everything is more difficult, especially in MotoGP.”

“But I was able to overtake well at some difficult points, but it was precise, concentrated and the most important thing for me is that this weekend I have the speed.”

When quizzed if he could repeat a similar performance tomorrow but without any of today’s mistakes, Marquez felt that he would need to have a similar start but he will need to ‘concentrate’ more. 

“Tomorrow we will see, it will be difficult especially because starting in 8th position, the start and first lap is [going to be] crucial, but let’s see if we can concentrate.”

Marquez also attributed that his turn-five crash in FP2 yesterday was a blessing in disguise as it prevented him from making the same mistake in the Sprint.

“When you have the speed you have more confidence, you are able to overtake better. So yeah, I did exactly the same mistake as yesterday [going wide and losing second place early on]. Luckily yesterday I crashed, because if not, maybe it was today’s crash.”

“So then today in the race just when I did that mistake I gave up, I came back calm, and then in the last part of the sprint race I was coming back with a strong pace, so yeah let’s see if tomorrow we can be super focused, and concentrated.”

“Especially, I think Pecco, Vinales, and Martin are the fastest ones.”