MOTO GP

Marc Márquez defeats the brilliant Marco Bezzecchi at Misano and seeks the title in Japan

Spaniard Marc Márquez took victory over Italian Marco Bezzecchi in a beautiful race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli – where Spaniard Álex Márquez completed the podium – and will depend only on himself to be crowned MotoGP champion in two Sundays at Motegi.

The first news of the race came on the reconnaissance lap, when Jorge Martín's Aprilia stopped, forcing him to pit for second gear. However, the pit lane closed before he could exit, resulting in a two-lap penalty.

Marco Bezzecchi defended his pole position well, and Marc Márquez made a fantastic start to tie with Álex Márquez and overtook him in the first corners, with Fabio Quartararo watching, followed by Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Di Giannantonio, and Pedro Acosta. Johann Zarco and Joan Mir fell behind.

Bezzecchi followed alongside the Márquez brothers, and behind him, Acosta overtook Di Giannantonio on his motorcycle, taking sixth place. At that moment, news arrived that Álex Rins and Augusto Fernández had started early, joining Martín on the penalty list with two long laps. Shortly after, two more accidents occurred, first that of Ai Ogura and then that of Maverick Viñales.

Meanwhile, it was Acosta who put the finishing touches on the race. After getting rid of Morbidelli, he launched his bike at Quartararo to take fourth place on lap six, although almost two seconds behind the leading trio. However, just two laps later, he had to retire due to a broken chain on his KTM. Almost immediately afterward, Pecco Bagnaia, who was running seventh behind the two VR46s, crashed, and soon after, Alex Rins did too.

Ahead, Bezzecchi's pace began to slip away from Álex Márquez, leaving only Marc in pursuit. Behind the Gresini rider—who wore the traditional Misano livery in homage to Fausto's Garelli—a three-second lead opened up over the trio of Quartararo, Morbidelli, and "Diggia," whom Fermín Aldeguer was trying to catch.

Marc Márquez began closing in on Bezzecchi, who lost the lead on lap 12 when he went off track at Turn 8, finding himself squeezed between the two brothers. Behind him, Enea Bastianini crashed again.

"Bez" was back on Marc's tail, with Alex holding the advantage by just one second. Behind him, Morbidelli moved up to fourth, overtaking Quartararo, who was losing ground and was also overtaken first by Di Giannantonio and then by Aldeguer, having to open up a gap and seeing how he too was overtaken by a surging Luca Marini.

Marc Márquez was testing the endurance of Marco Bezzecchi, who also received the limit warning and repeated the times as best he could—while Álex was definitely cut—until, with six laps remaining, the Ducati rider set the fastest lap and gained a half-second advantage.

Marco Bezzecchi set the fastest lap, reaching three-tenths of a second, with three remaining, but Marc Márquez responded immediately, stealing the honor from him; he maintained a half-second lead on the final lap, which he made the most of to secure his hard-fought victory of the year.

Alex Márquez added another podium to his incredible season, while Franco Morbidelli held off Fabio Di Giannantonio, with Fermín Aldeguer ahead of Luca Marini. Fabio Quartararo finished eighth, finishing the Yamaha just half a second ahead of Miguel Oliveira, with Brad Binder in the top 10. Raúl Fernández, Jorge Martín and Augusto Fernández also scored points.

Alex Márquez finished third and was a true spectator as the two fastest riders battled over the 27 laps. Rounding out the top five were the two Pertamina Enduro VR46 MotoGP Team riders, Franco Morbidelli (P4) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (P5).

Francesco Bagnaia was once again a negative highlight after crashing in his home GP. However, Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira once again equaled his best result of the year in 9th place overall.

Only 16 riders completed the chaotic race at Misano. The chaos began on the first lap when Honda duo Johann Zarco and Joan Mir were involved in a crash. They crashed in the same incident.

The list of retirements was extensive. Aprilia's Ai Ogura (lap 3), KTM's Maverick Viñales (lap 5), Marc Marquez's teammate Francesco Bagnaia (lap 9), Yamaha's Alex Rins (lap 10), and KTM's Enea Bastianini (lap 12) also retired. Thus, all of them were out of the race before the halfway point.

Spaniard Pedro Acosta, on a KTM, suffered a mechanical problem. His bike's chain broke after eight laps, forcing him to retire.

Australian Jack Miller finished in the points in 12th. The Yamaha rider finished the race 27.492 seconds behind Marquez. Miller did a great job at the start, gaining four positions in the first two laps, despite starting in 21st place. He finished the race ahead of Aprilia's Martin. Martin had to serve a long-lap penalty because his lead bike broke down on the out lap, and he had to complete the race with the second car.

The 17th of 22 rounds of the MotoGP season will take place in Motegi, Japan, from September 26th to 28th.

Swinxy