Bezzecchi wins the first-ever Indian GP; keeps Championship hopes alive

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Marco Bezzacchi the winner of Indian GP: MotoGP

New Delhi

Mooney VR46 Racing rider Marco Bezzecchi ensured he was still in the Championship title race with a dominating display at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, finishing the race with an 8.64-second gap over the second-placed Spanish rider, Jorge Martin.

“I am very happy, it was a tough race, very long, but after yesterday, where unfortunately, in the start, I got hit by Luca. Today, I wanted to get my revenge and fortunately, I started better, I got on the lead quite early and then I just started to put my rhythm on,” said Bezzecchi, the winner of the first Indian GP in a post-race Interview.

Bezzecchi has had an all-around weekend, starting with the qualifying on Saturday, where he secured the pole with the fastest lap of 1:43:94. But things went haywire for the Italian during the Tissot Sprint race, when he got hit from behind, on the first turn, by teammate Luca Marini. Marini was later diagnosed with a fractured collarbone, putting him out of the Sunday showdown. Bezzecchi though recovered from the crash, he ended the sprint in fifth position, with the Spanish Martin securing consecutive sprint race-day victories.

The highlight of the Sunday race though remained the last-lap drama, for second position, between Martin and 2021 Champion, Fabio Quartararo. The Yamaha rider was looking to snatch the second spot from Martin, who is also second in the championship race, right at the very end.

It all came to fruition for Quartararo when Martin went wide on turn four of the last lap due to a malfunction in his racing leather making him break heavy. Quartararo, who initially was lagging behind because of the comprehensive gap between Yamaha and Ducati's power, this season, quickly sensed the opportunity and overtook the flailing Martin. But the Spaniard wasn't willing to give up so easily. He immediately came back on the track, albeit with a dirty set of tyres, regained his speed and made a dangerous lunge over the French to get back the second spot. The Parmac Ducati rider knew how imperative it was for him to finish second and secure the 20 points, keeping his maiden championship hopes alive. While, this was the former Champion, Quartararo's only second podium finish this season after he had his first at the Grand Prix of Americas. 

Old habits die hard, the saying came true for the reigning Champion and current-championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia, a.k.a Pecco when he wasn’t able to get better of his, dropping the ball on turn five, right after overtaking Martin for the second position. This brought an end to an already horrific India outing for the Italian, as he crashed out of the Sunday finale in the 14th lap. The incident blew the title hunt wide open, with Martin and Bezzecchi only 13 and 44 points behind now, respectively.

Fan favourite and six-time World Champion Marc Marquez also had a day to forget despite a podium finish yesterday in the Sprint. The Honda rider had skidded off track while chasing Pecco in third. The former champion hit the deck on turn one of lap six of the race and was only able to join back behind the pack at 16th. The Spaniard though managed to reduce the damage of this incident ending the race with seven points at ninth position.

The fourth position was taken by South Africa's Brad Binder for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team with Repsol Honda's Joan Mir of Spain finishing behind him in 5th. The Honda rider, during the last lap of the Grand Prix, thought of making a late lunge over the South African for the fourth position but failed as he witnessed a resilient defence by him. 

Aleix Espargaro was another rider who had a day to forget in the subcontinent country, as he faced a gearbox issue late in the race, ending his race early. The Aprilia rider was amongst the points before the bike gave up on him.

Up next for the riders is the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, next weekend.


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