Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Rachit Thukral

MotoGP Indian GP: Bezzecchi dominates as Bagnaia crash blows title fight open

Having been an innocent victim in a Turn 1 collision with team-mate Luca Marini in Saturday’s sprint, Bezzecchi enjoyed a clear race this time around as he retook the lead he had lost at the start to claim his third win of 2023.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin just held on to second position from the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, the two riders finishing just two tenths adrift of each other after a tense final lap.

Championship leader Bagnaia had been running second ahead of title rival Martin on lap 13 when he fell off his factory Ducati at Turn 4, suffering his third retirement of the season.

It allowed Martin to cut Bagnaia’s championship lead to just 13 points, with Bezzecchi also making inroads into his countryman’s advantage.

At the start of the race, Martin got the holeshot from second to take the lead into the opening right-hander, with Bagnaia also getting the jump on polesitter Bezzecchi to demote the VR46 rider to third.

But Bezzecchi wasted little time in regaining lost positions, moving back up to second behind Bagnaia when Martin ran wide at Turn 4 and dropped from first to third.

At the final turn, Bezzecchi sent his year-old GP22 up the inside of Bagnaia into the final corner, making the move stick to snatch the lead back from the reigning champion.

By the start of lap four, Bezzecchi was over a second clear of the chasing pack, helped by Bagnaia and Martin battling for position, before pulling even further clear of the pack in the middle of the race.

The 24-year-old eventually took the chequered flag more than eight seconds in front, scoring his first Sunday win of 2023 since the French GP back in May.

After Bezzecchi had checked out at front, Bagnaia and Martin initiated a close battle for second position, with Martin getting ahead on lap 5 with a textbook block pass on lap five.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

But Bagnaia didn’t let Martin run away in second position and continued to chase the Pramac rider, finally re-passing him on lap 12 when the latter run slightly wide into the parabola.

However, just the following lap, Bagnaia crashed completely on his own going into Turn 4, severely hampering his chances of winning a second consecutive MotoGP title.

Bagnaia’s crash should have gifted Martin an easy second but the Spanish rider had to fight hard to secure the runner-up spot, after losing time tightening up his overalls.

This brought the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo into play and the two riders engaged in a thrilling final lap scrap after Martin ran wide at Turn 4.

Quartararo briefly passed Martin for second, but the the latter retook the initiative a few corners later and narrowly held onto the position in a close end to the 21-lap race.

Fourth place in the race went to KTM’s Brad Binder, who was able to make another strong recovery after a poor qualifying session to beat the top Honda of Joan Mir.

Johann Zarco was sixth aboard the second Pramac Ducati, while Franco Morbidelli leapt from 16th to 10th in the opening two laps before crossing the chequered flag in seventh place.

Maverick Vinales recovered from a Turn 1 contact to finish eighth in the lead Aprilia, with his team-mate Aleix Espargaro having to pull into the pits with a technical problem in what was his second retirement of the weekend.

Honda’s Marc Marquez took the chequered flag in ninth after an impressive recovery ride, having dropped to 16th after a crash on lap 6.

Marquez had been running fourth when he suffered a low-speed fall into Turn 1, but he managed to stay on his bike to continue the race.

Lapping at the same pace as the frontrunners, Marquez was able to return to points-scoring positions within four laps before making further gains en route to ninth.

The top 10 was rounded off by Raul Fernandez on the RNF Aprilia.

MotoGP Indian GP results

 
 
         
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 21 36'59.157   170.6   25
2 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 21 +8.649 8.649 170.0   20
3 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 21 +8.855 0.206 169.9   16
4 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 21 +12.643 3.788 169.7   13
5 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 21 +13.214 0.571 169.6   11
6 France J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5 Ducati 21 +14.673 1.459 169.5   10
7 Italy F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21 Yamaha 21 +16.946 2.273 169.3   9
8 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 21 +17.191 0.245 169.3   8
9 Spain M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93 Honda 21 +19.118 1.927 169.2   7
10 Spain R. Fernández RNF Racing 25 Aprilia 21 +26.504 7.386 168.6   6
11 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 21 +28.521 2.017 168.5   5
12 Portugal M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88 Aprilia 21 +29.088 0.567 168.4   4
13 Spain P. Espargaro Tech 3 44 KTM 21 +29.728 0.640 168.4   3
14 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 21 +31.324 1.596 168.3   2
15 Germany S. Bradl Team LCR 6 Honda 21 +35.782 4.458 167.9   1
16 Italy M. Pirro Ducati Team 51 Ducati 21 +49.242 13.460 166.9    
dnf Italy F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49 Ducati 19 +2 Laps 2 Laps 168.1 Retirement  
dnf Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 13 +8 Laps 6 Laps 170.3 Accident  
dnf Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 11 +10 Laps 2 Laps 162.9 Retirement  
dnf Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 6 +15 Laps 5 Laps 163.9 Retirement  
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.