MOTO GP

Balaton Park: Marc Márquez and his 100th victory

Marc Márquez confirmed his status as favorite and won the Hungarian MotoGP Grand Prix with authority this Sunday (7). The Ducati rider won an intense duel against Pedro Acosta, chased his rival in the first half of the race and built a comfortable advantage to complete a perfect weekend at Balaton Park. The dominant performance revived the nickname ‘Balaton Marc’, created after the Spaniard also dominated the Hungarian stage in 2025, in addition to marking the Spaniard's 100th victory in the World Motorcycle Championship.

Also very competitive throughout the weekend, Acosta secured second place in Hungary for KTM. Francesco Bagnaia completed the Balaton Park podium. Marco Bezzecchi, on the other hand, had a Sunday to forget. The leader of the World Championship, the Italian was hit by Jorge Martín in the first lap accident and abandoned the race without scoring points.

At the front, Marc Márquez continued to accumulate fast laps and close in on the KTM rider, while the advantage of the two over third-placed Pecco Bagnaia continued to increase.

Moreira was in sixth place, in the middle of a 'train' of bikes led by Jack Miller of Pramac Yamaha, followed by three Hondas. On lap 12, the Brazilian managed to overtake Miller and move into fifth (after the Pramac rider was overtaken by Luca Marini), but lost contact and returned to sixth place.

At the front, Márquez managed to overtake Acosta, but the KTM rider managed to regain the position and, in the next corner, they took the corner side-by-side, with Acosta managing to maintain the lead. Further back, Moreira dropped to seventh after an attack by Ogura.

On lap 15, Márquez managed to pressure, overtake and remain in the lead against Acosta, with the reigning champion pulling away at the front. Further back, Joan Mir crashed at turn 11, abandoning the race and causing a yellow flag in that sector.

On laps 18 to 19, Marc Márquez continued to increase the gap to Acosta, even while pushing the Ducati bike to the limit. Right behind him, Moreira overtook Miller and moved up to sixth place.

With five laps to go, Márquez was increasing his advantage over the rest of the grid, more than two seconds ahead of Acosta. Shortly behind, Marini and Ogura continued to battle for fourth place, with the Japanese rider passing the Honda rider with two laps to go.

At the front, Márquez cruised to victory, securing his and Ducati's 100th win in the MotoGP World Championship, while Moreira managed to finish sixth, the best result of the Brazilian's career in the premier class.

See the interview with M. Márquez...Marc Márquez commented on his physical condition, managing to achieve a pole position and a victory in the Sprint race in less than a month after undergoing double surgery. The Spanish rider emphasized that the circuit format helped him a lot.

“In three days, the physical condition doesn't change, but rather the circuit changes. I was able to confirm here that on the left side, at least, I'm back to my old form. And that's important, because at the beginning of the year, within Ducati, I wasn't the fastest in the left-hand corners, and that's where I made the difference, especially last year.

Here I felt comfortable again, and the race consisted of pushing at the beginning, giving it my all, and then surviving and managing. I had that in mind, I tried to do it, and I succeeded.”

Regarding today's race, the Spaniard preferred to remain cautious with expectations, despite the performance he has been showing throughout the weekend.

“Starting from pole and being as I am today, I would like to be on the podium. I have to be super focused tomorrow, in the sense that if I drop physically, my head keeps going fast, but my body doesn't.

''So, that's where a bad body movement can make me go through the same thing that happened in Le Mans, when I was on the lap, without pushing too hard, I fell simply because of my body position.”

During qualifying, the Spanish rider fell, but continued holding the clutch, without stalling the bike, and managed to return to the track and take pole position. Márquez stated that this gesture was automatic:

“It’s not that I’m there, sliding around the track and thinking. It comes from instinct, and it can end up costing me dearly, because making a mistake on the first tire can cost you dearly on the second, if you don’t have a reference time.”

The nine-time champion also spoke about the presence of younger riders in the sport, joking that it’s good that Fermín doesn’t have a 2021 Ducati:

“It’s a good thing Fermín doesn’t have the 2026. But that’s the law of life. Young riders… it took me 10 years for one, and 11 or 12 for another, more or less. So, it’s the law of life. Little by little, young riders arrive, fresh, eager, strong, and talented.”

Speaking about the next season, Marc stated that he has been using the current one as a way to prepare for 2027, without focusing on recovering the championship against Bezzecchi:

“I’m here to be here next year. So…” "Right now, I'm working towards being there next year. We're not in a time to recover, but rather to build so we can try to take advantage of it in the future."

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