In the sprint on Saturday, Marco Bezzecchi was narrowly beaten. But in the MotoGP main race on Sunday, the VR46 Ducati rider was unstoppable.
He dominated in the Argentina rain and claimed his first win in the premier class.
Because world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) fell, Bezzecchi also took over the championship lead with the win. Behind him, the race remained exciting until the end. Johann Zarco (Pramac-Ducati) put in a strong finish, passing Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) on the final lap for third.
As in the small World Championship classes, the MotoGP also found wet conditions for its Sunday race. Shortly before the start of the race, light rain set in again. The race distance remained the originally scheduled 25 laps.
A total of only 17 drivers started. Pol Espargaro (GasGas), Enea Bastianini (Ducati), Marc Marquez (Honda) and Miguel Oliveira (RNF-Aprilia) did not even make it to the event due to injury. Joan Mir (Honda) retired from racing after a bad crash in Saturday’s MotoGP sprint.
Alex Marquez loses lead in the first turn
Alex Marquez started the race from pole position for the first time. However, he lost the lead at the first corner to Bezzecchi. Bagnaia lined up third.
Sprint winner Brad Binder (KTM) fell in the first lap after contact with Maverick Vinales (Aprilia). Similarly, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) was pushed aside by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR-Honda) and fell behind. Meanwhile, his Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli stayed in fourth.
Behind them, Aleix Espargaro initially made up positions. Starting from ninth place, the Aprilia driver fought with Zarco for fifth place. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini-Ducati) also had a strong start phase, who advanced to seventh place and immediately attacked Espargaro, who then lost a few positions again.
At the front, Bezzecchi pushed the pace and tried to shake off Marquez. After four laps, he was almost a second behind. Behind Marquez, Bagnaia and Morbidelli were within striking distance. Di Giannantonio, meanwhile fifth, had to give up clearly again.
As a result, Bezzecchi continued to increase his lead. The field of pursuers also increasingly spread apart. Only Bagnaia kept up with Marquez. Behind them, however, the gaps to Morbidelli and Di Giannantonio widened.
The latter was visited after ten laps by Alex Rins (LCR-Honda) and Zarco, who put pressure on them from behind. On the other hand, the Aprilias, who were outside the top 10 at the time, went backwards. Still the measure of things on Friday, Vinales and Espargaro did not cope well in the wet.
The standings at halftime: Bezzecchi, Marquez, Bagnaia, Morbidelli, Rins, Zarco, Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati), Jack Miller (KTM), Di Giannantonio, Luca Marini (VR46-Ducati). Quartararo had fought his way back to eleventh place after the incident.
In the second half of the race, Marquez had to let go and was conceded by Bagnaia in turn 13. But then the world champion slipped away over the front wheel.
Although Bagnaia took up the race again, but drove a lost battle. Marquez took second place, but had a seven-second lead over Bezzecchi. Morbidelli was third after Bagnaia’s crash. But from behind Zarco approached with big strides. He set the best pace in the closing stages.
With three laps to go, the Pramac rider had caught up with Morbidelli and benefited from a small mistake to go past. On the final lap, Marquez also had to believe it and was relegated to third place by Zarco.
First race win in MotoGP for Marco Bezzecchi
The superior victory, however, went to Bezzecchi, who not only celebrated his first victory for the VR46 team in MotoGP. He also leaves Argentina as World Cup leader.
With fourth place, Morbidelli equalized his result from the sprint and also confirmed his positive shape curve in the main race. Teammate Quartararo was able to gain further ground in the second half of the race and finished seventh behind Martin and Miller. Marini, Rins and Di Giannantonio completed the top 10.
Rookie Augusto Fernandez (GasGas) finished his first wet race in the premier class in eleventh place. Aprilia was beaten under value: Vinales finished twelfth, Espargaro only collected one championship point in 15th place. He was classified behind Nakagami and Raul Fernandez (RNF-Aprilia).
Bagnaia pulled through the race after his fall. But more than 16th place was not possible. Binder also continued after his incident with Vinales, but remained without points.