Hashtag: Marco Bezzecchi

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MotoGP: Bezzecchi Wins 1000th MotoGP Race at Le Mans

A crash-filled French GP saw only 13 riders meet the chequered flag. There were hard-fought battles up and down the field and plenty of podium celebrations for our top three riders.

Marco Bezzecchi has taken his second race win of the season, celebrating MotoGP’s 1,000th race from the top step of the podium. He was in a class of his own today, starting from 7th before hitting the front at the mid-point of the race and eventually coming home over 4 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

He was joined on the podium by both Prima Pramac riders, with Jorge Martin 2nd and Johann Zarco in 3rd, much to the delight of his home crowd.

Martin had to fight hard to earn that 2nd place today, fighting with Marc Marquez for much of the race. The pair were jostling and fighting at every corner with Marquez often coming out on top. It was a magnificent defence considering he has been out of action for the last three races due to an injury. However, on lap 26, with just two and a half laps remaining, Marquez could no longer keep the bike upright and he slid out as Museum Corner whilst trying to make the cut back on Martin.

Zarco was able to capitalise on the drama and the crashes around him, keeping his nose clean and quietly making his way up the field to 3rd. The moment he stepped on to the podium, the French crowd erupted as they showed support for their home hero.

It was a harder race for the other home hero, Fabio Quatararo, who started 13th and eventually finished the day in 7th. He was able to keep his nose clean but didn’t make significant enough strides to truly battle with those ahead of him.

The race was full of drama, from start to finish, with nail-biting battles taking place for most of the race. None more so than lap 5 which gave us two enormous crashes between four riders running in the top 10.

Firstly, it was pole-sitter Pecco Bagnaia and Maverick Vinales who found themselves in the gravel. The pair were fighting for the same piece of tarmac and, as Vinales returned to the racing line, the pair bumped into each other. This caused Vinales to lose control of the bike and as his machine was wobbling, he clattered into the side of Bagnaia again and the pair went down. Both were able to walk away from the crash but, in the heat of the moment, they began scrapping and fighting in the gravel.

Then, moments later, Luca Marini lost the front of the bike when he hit a kerb. Alex Marquez then ran into the back of the VR46 machine and they both went down dramatically. This incident left Marquez in the middle of the track but he was thankfully able to move and avoid the on-coming traffic.

It was an equally difficult day for Jack Miller. He started the race in 4th and, in typical Miller style, he flew off the line past pole-sitter Bagnaia and was quickly fighting with Marquez for the lead. He made a brave, aggressive move around the outside of Museum Corner – the same corner where he crashed out of Saturday’s sprint race – and was able to claim the lead on the second lap of the race.

Miller enjoyed the clean air for much of the race, until lap 11 when he began to slide backwards down the field. He eventually ended up back in 9th before sliding out of the race at turn 4 of lap 25. It appeared that he was struggling with a bike issue but this is yet to be confirmed.

It was a dream day for rookie Augusto Fernandez who enjoyed his best result of his MotoGP career so far. He was battling hard with the likes of Aleix Espargaro and Brad Binder before crossing the line in 4th. He received a hero’s welcome in the pit lane, his team clearly delighted with his mature and impressive performance today.

Espgararo ended the day in 5th, just ahead of Binder in 6th. The South African would have been hoping for more today after his exceptional 2nd place finish in yesterday’s sprint race. However, he was forced out wide by Alex Marquez at the start of the race. This shuffled him down to 16th and ultimately ruined his chance of a podium or win.

The top 10 was rounded out by Quatararo in 7th, Fabio Di Giannantonio in 8th followed by Takaaki Nakagami and Franco Morbidelli in 9th and 10th respectively.

We now have a 3-week break before the grid is back in action in Mugello. That’s 3 weeks for today’s winners to revel in their success and our losers to dwell on their difficult weekend.

Full Results
1st Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 –
2nd Jorge Martin Prima Pramac +4.256s
3rd Johann Zarco Prima Pramac +4.795s
4th Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3 +6.281s
5th Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +6.726s
6th Brad Binder Red bull KTM +13.638s
7th Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha +15.023s
8th Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini +15.826s
9th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda +16.370s
10th Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha +17.828s
11th Danilo Petrucci Ducati Lenovo +29.735s
12th Lorenzo Savadori CrytoDATA RNF +36.135s
13th Jonas Folger GASGAS Tech3 +49.808s

DNFs = Marc Marquez, Jack Miller, Alex Rins, Joan Mir, Alex Marquez, Luca Marini, Maverick Vinales, Pecco Bagnaia

Championship Standings
1st Pecco Bagnaia 94 points
2nd Marco Bezzecchi 93 points
3rd Brad Binder 81 points
4th Jorge Martin 80 points
5th Johann Zarco 66 points

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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MotoGP: Alex Marquez Claims Maiden Pole in Argentina

Alex Marquez battled his way through a rainy Q1 session, a crash and a burning bike to claim his maiden MotoGP pole at the Argentinian GP. He will be joined on the front row by Marco Bezzecchi and Pecco Bagnaia – it was the riders who made the brave move to use slicks tires on a drying track that came out on top.

Alex Marquez has made his way through all the barriers that Saturday could throw at him to secure himself pole position for the Sprint and Feature race at this weekend’s Argentinian GP. He came through a wet qualifying session, in which he crashed in the final minutes and then pulled off the track with a bike in flames, to lay down a stunning time of 1:43.881.

Just 0.172s behind him was last weekend’s podium sitter, Marco Bezzecchi on the Mooney VR46 machine. He has clearly capitalised on the momentum he found in the first race of the season.

Just behind them was reigning champion and championship leader, Pecco Bagnaia. He took his time warming up in the session but seemed to come alive during his final flying lap. He was also the first of a series of brave riders to try slick tires on the drying track.

It was a good day for Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales who will line up on the grid in 4th and 5th respectively. Just behind them with be Johann Zarco in 6th, who many tipped for a pole position today, and Luca Marini in 7th. Rounding out the top 10 are Jorge Martin, Aleix Espargaro and Fabio Quartararo.

Image Credit: MotoGP
QUALIFYING 1

There were some big names in Qualifying 1 today – a session that saw rain falling for most of the 15 minutes. Those names included Fabio Quatararo, Jack Miller, Brad Binder and Alex Marquez. The first sessions started with a mistake from Quartararo as he went too deep in to turn 5 and ploughed into the kitty litter at quite some speed. Despite the mistake, Quartararo spent most of the session at the top of the timing sheets, having laid down a time of 1:47.397 with 9 minutes remaining on the clock.

Marquez then took over at the top with 3 and a half minutes remaining. With lots of other riders improving in the dying minutes of the session, including Fabio Di Giannantonio and Joan Mir, Quartararo’s progression to Q2 was looking uncertain. Miller took a riskier approach, only giving him one opportunity for a flying lap. That approach didn’t seem to work for the Aussie who was stuck in 5th, only to be demoted to 6th after Binder took 5th from him.

As the session ended, it was Alex Marquez and Quartararo in 1st and 2nd respectively and both were promoted to the Q2 session.

QUALIFYING 2

As Q2 started, the conditions were improving and the track was drying quickly. Despite that, the pack started on wet tires and all were quickly on the track to try and test out the conditions. As everyone completed their first flying laps, Johann Zarco was the first to take provisional pole, just ahead of the two Yamaha riders with Franco Morbidelli in 2nd and Quartararo in 3rd. Championship leader, Bagnaia, had a slow start to the session with his first flying lap leaving him in 8th.

With 6 minutes left on the clock, all the riders headed back to the pits with a few brave riders then opting that the track was ready slick tires. Of these riders was Bagnaia who was the first to explore the track conditions on slick tires – the bike kept twitching and wobbling underneath him and it looked like he had made the leap just a little too soon.

But the lap times started to tumble as the conditions improved and, as the chequered flag fell, it was those on slick tires who topped the timing sheets. Bravery paid off!

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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MotoGP: Bagnaia Cruises to Victory in Portugal

Our reigning MotoGP Champion, Pecco Bagnaia, has enjoyed a dream start to his 2023 season after taking a clean sweep in the first weekend of action. The Ducati rider has won Saturday’s Sprint Race before going on to dominate in Sunday’s Feature Race. He was joined on the podium by Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi.

After making history by winning MotoGP’s first ever Sprint Race on Saturday, Pecco Bagnaia has carried on his winning streak on Sunday, with victory at the Portuguese GP Feature Race. He took the lead on Lap 2 and, despite a good challenge from Maverick Vinales, he never looked back and took the chequered flag with a comfortable 0.68 second lead.

Our pole sitter, Marc Marquez, crashed out of the race on Lap 3. He made a huge mistake in the braking zone into Turn 3 and clipped the back of Jorge Martin, who was running in 3rd. As he went down, he clattered into the back of home hero Miguel Oliveira, running in 2nd, and brought him into the gravel with him. His injuries saw Oliveira stretched off track and taken to the medical centre – we are still waiting for an update on his condition. Martin was lucky to stay upright and rejoined the track in 16th, before crashing out of the race at Turn 2, on Lap 20 of 25.

Taking advantage of this drama was Maverick Vinales who carefully made his way through the incident and found himself up to 2nd, after starting 7th. He was quickly on the back of Bagnaia but didn’t quite have the pace to steal the lead from him. He ended the day in 2nd.

Marco Bezzecchi rounded out the podium spots with a well-earned 3rd place. He took 3rd from Jack Miller on Lap 6 but failed to close the gap on the leading pair. For much of the race, the battle for fourth was where the majority of the action was taking place, and Miller was a key part of this. He battled with Alex Marquez, Brad Binder, Aleix Espargaro and Johann Zarco for much of the race. However, on the final lap, Zarco bested all of them as he leap-frogged from 7th up to 4th with a late move. Alex Marquez, Binder and Miller were forced to settle with 5th, 6th and 7th respectively.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Fabio Quartararo had a difficult day starting in 10th, losing 5 places at the start and then fighting his way back up to end the race in 8th. He took that spot on the penultimate lap as Espargaro made a mistake that opened the door for the Frenchman.

With 6 riders failing to finish the race, all 14 finishers crossed the line to secure some points. Those non-finishers included Luca Marini who suffered his fourth crash of the weekend – a disappointing start to his season after such a consistent year in 2022 – as well as Fabio Di Giannantonio, who retired with mechanical issues on Lap 11, and Raul Fernandez, who crashed on the penultimate lap of the race.

After a perfect weekend, Bagnaia is sitting pretty at the top of the championship standings. Just behind him is Vinales, lagging behind by 12 points, and Bezzecchi, a further 9 points behind.

We only have to wait 7 days for the drama to continue, as the grid will be in action on the 1st and 2nd of April in Argentina.

Full Results:
1st Pecco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo
2nd Maverick Viñales Aprilia
3rd Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46
4th Johann Zarco Prima Pramac
5th Alex Marquez Gresini
6th Brad Binder Red Bull KTM
7th Jack Miller Red Bull KTM
8th Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha
9th Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
10th Alex Rins LCR Honda
11th Joan Mir Repsol Honda
12th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
13th Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3
14th Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha
Championship Standings:
1st Pecco Bagnaia 37 points
2nd Maverick Vinales 25 points
3rd Marco Bezzecchi 16 point
4th Johann Zarco 15 points
5th Jack Miller 15 points

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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