Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi dominated from start to finish to take his second MotoGP victory of the season at the Portuguese Grand Prix, the Italian rider converting from pole position in Portimao on Sunday.
Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
Bezzecchi, the winner of the British Grand Prix in May, won Aprilia’s third Grand Prix in a single season for the first time to become the sixth different rider to take victory in the past six Grands Prix, and was never troubled after holding his lead into the first corner to win by 2.583 seconds.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
SPRINT REPORT Marquez holds off Acosta in bare-knuckle brawl
BACK FROM THE BASEMENT Inside Honda’s resurgence, and how a giant is stirring
Alex Marquez (Ducati) backed up his sprint win in Portimao on Saturday with a solid second place behind Bezzecchi, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who battled Marquez all the way in the 12-lap sprint, finished third for his third feature race podium in the past four races.
Bezzecchi’s fifth MotoGP win came comfortably, leading by as many as four seconds on lap 22 of 25 before cruising across the line to all-but secure third place in this year’s world championship standings after Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia crashed out on lap 11.
“Very happy, it was a fantastic race for me,” Bezzecchi said after he’d finished third in Saturday’s sprint race from his fourth pole of the season.
“This morning [in the pre-race warm-up] I felt better, and yesterday evening we worked a lot in the [pit] box to try to find that last step that was missed. I was super afraid from Pedro and Alex because yesterday they were super quick, but I was also very motivated to try to get a win. It’s super important to be back on the top of the podium.”
After Saturday’s thrilling sprint, Sunday’s full-distance race was a more tepid affair after Bezzecchi bolted to a two-second lead by half-distance, with Acosta providing some late intrigue as he rapidly closed down Marquez in the closing stages as the Ducati battled front tyre wear, Marquez just six-tenths of a second to the good at the chequered flag.
Jack Miller finished 12th for Yamaha from eighth on the grid, the Australian coming home 29.717secs behind Bezzecchi and as the second-best Yamaha in a race where the Japanese manufacturer’s lack of straight-line speed was exposed down Portimao’s front straight.
Miller’s stablemate Fabio Quartararo held on to sixth from a front-row start, but drifted to 18 seconds behind Bezzecchi as Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer (fourth from 11th on the grid) and KTM’s Brad Binder (fifth from 14th) had far superior race pace over the 25-lap distance.
The final round of the 22-round MotoGP season will take place at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain from November 14-16.
Discussion about this post