VR46 Ducati rider Bezzecchi made an instantaneous impression on the MotoGP paddock in his debut season in 2022 when he scored a podium at Assen.
Driving the championship-winning 2022-spec Ducati for his sophomore marketing campaign with Valentino Rossi’s staff, Bezzecchi eased to a maiden grand prix victory at a moist Rio Hondo so as to add to the second he claimed in Saturday’s dash.
Nailing his launch off the road from second on the grid, Bezzecchi went unbothered all through the 25-lap grand prix to guide a Ducati 1-2-Three from a hard-charging Johann Zarco and poleman Alex Marquez.
Bezzecchi’s first grand prix win places him 9 factors clear within the championship after manufacturing facility Ducati counterpart Bagnaia crashed out of second within the race late on.
Persistent rain all day in at Rio Hondo led to MotoGP’s first moist begin since final yr’s Thailand GP, with all the subject unanimous in its determination to run medium entrance and rear moist Michelins.
Bezzecchi received the most effective begin from the entrance row to grab the lead from Marquez, as Bagnaia slotted into third after the opening few corners.
Franco Morbidelli was capable of latch onto the again of that main trio, with the highest 4 rapidly breaking away from the remainder of the pack.
Behind, there was heartbreak for dash winner Brad Binder, who crashed out at Flip 5 on the primary lap after Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales made slight contact as he overtook the KTM.
At Flip 7, Morbidelli’s Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo was knocked down the order from 10th to 16th after Takaaki Nakagami compelled him onto the slick painted run-off.
Each the Binder/Vinales and Quartararo/Nakagami incidents had been positioned underneath investigation, however no additional motion was taken by the stewards.
By the top of the primary lap, Bezzecchi was already seven tenths away from Marquez on the Gresini Ducati and would proceed to increase that benefit.
Come the top of lap 13, Bezzecchi was Three.6s clear and would open that hole out to over 5 seconds when Bagnaia and Marquez engaged over second.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Group
Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Bagnaia made his first transfer for second on lap 15, the manufacturing facility Ducati rider steaming up the within of Marquez at Flip 9.
Marquez retaliated with an amazing transfer on the within of the quick Flip 11 left-hander, however Bagnaia made a decisive cross on the penultimate flip.
Second regarded like it could be nailed on for Bagnaia, however the world champion crashed on the penultimate nook two excursions later.
Bagnaia re-joined, however comes away from the grand prix with out factors in 16th forward of Binder after his lap-one crash.
On the head of the pack, Bezzecchi stored every little thing tidy by way of to the chequered flag to attain Ducati’s first win at Rio Hondo.
The battle for second raged to the ultimate lap, as Pramac’s Zarco – who was at one stage six seconds behind the rostrum – charged by way of to overtake Morbidelli on lap 23, earlier than taking second from Marquez at Flip 5 on the final tour.
Zarco headed Marquez to the chequered flag to finish an all-satellite Ducati prime three.
Morbidelli loved his finest grand prix consequence since 2021 in fourth, 2.1s away from the sister Pramac Ducati of Jorge Martin and KTM’s Jack Miller – who began 16th.
Quartararo made a stable restoration to seventh ultimately from VR46’s Luca Marini, LCR Honda’s Alex Rins and the Gresini Ducati of Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Augusto Fernandez scored the most effective results of his rookie season to date in 11th on the Tech3 GASGAS, with Vinales the main Aprilia in 12th on the finish of a tricky race for the Italian producer.
Nakagami was 13th from RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez, whereas 2022 Argentina race winner Aleix Espargaro scored the ultimate level in 15th on his manufacturing facility Aprilia as he appeared to have battled imaginative and prescient issues together with his helmet visor.
Joan Mir withdrew from the grand prix on Sunday morning following his sprint crash, that means no Repsol Honda team rider was current on the grid for the primary time because the 2021 Valencia GP.
