Marc Marquez held off pressure from Marco Bezzechi to win MotoGP race in San Marino GP, with Alex Marquez in third.
It was a clean start from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi to lead MotoGP race in San Marino GP at Misano. Ducati’s Marc Marquez managed to clear two riders to move up to second from Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, ahead of the pair of VR46 Ducati riders.
It was Franco Morbidelli ahead of Fabio di Giannantonio, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta in seventh from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer and Honda’s Luca Marini in the Top 10. Even though Aprilia’s Jorge Martin was 11th, he had double long gap penalty against his name.
His original bike had issues and he had to switch to the second bike and didn’t complete the desired procedure. Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira was 12th from Tech 3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini, Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez and KTM’s Brad Binder in the Top 15 points places.
It wasn’t the return Honda’s Joan Mir hoped for after skipping Saturday. He had a crash with LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco on Lap 1 in Turn 1. The former retired, but the Frenchman re-joined at the back. Acosta passed di Giannantonio and Morbidelli in a space of few laps to move up to fifth.
He caught up with Quartararo and took fourth in further couple of laps. Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura suffered a fall, followed by Tech 3’s Maverick Vinales, as Yamaha’s Alex Rins and Augusto Fernandez were handed double long gap penalty after the stewards spotted jump start.
Nearing midway in the race, Bezzecchi continued to lead M Marquez and A Marquez in the Top 3. Quartararo was back in fourth after Acosta had his chain fall off to retire from the grand prix. Morbidelli was fifth from di Giannantonio, Aldeguer, Marini, Oliveira and Bastianini in the Top 10.
Following Acosta’s retirement, Bagnaia suffered a crash in the right-hander and Rins too crashed out. It put Binder in 11th from R Fernandez, Pramac’s Jack Miller, Martin and A Fernandez in the Top 15 points places, with only the pair of LCR running outside it.
The lead finally changed hands on Lap 12 at Turn 8 when Bezzecchi made a small mistake to go wide and allow M Marquez to lead MotoGP race in San Marino GP. It was not long for Bastianini to have a fall from 10th and despite trying to re-join, he couldn’t get back on track.
It wasn’t easy for M Marquez at the front as Bezzecchi hustled him around on his tail in the closing laps. A Marquez steadied in third as Quartararo dropped from fourth to eighth after losing out to Morbidelli, di Giannantonio, Aldeguer and Marini. He was still the lead Yamaha ahead of Oliveira.
Despite the pressure piled on by Bezzecchi, M Marquez managed to hold him off by 0.568s margin to win MotoGP race in San Marino GP to close in on to seventh title. A Marquez was a distant third from Morbidelli and di Giannantonio, as Aldeguer was sixth from Marini.
Quartararo was eighth from Oliveira and Binder in the Top 10, with R Fernandez, Miller, Martin, A Fernandez and LCR’s Somkiat Chantra scoring in the Top 15 and Zarco being the last finisher in 16th.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1967208023765684229
Here’s how MotoGP sprint panned out in San Marino GP
