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MotoGP

Dominant Bezzecchi gives VR46 first MotoGP win, Bagnaia falls

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
4 min read

until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League

Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP team got its first-ever premier-class win in a wet Argentina Grand Prix, Marco Bezzecchi the rider to secure the milestone.

But the day was soured for Rossi’s VR46 organisation when its highest-profile star, Ducati’s reigning MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia, crashed from a near-guaranteed second place and finished 16th.

A potential favourite in the dry, Bezzecchi will have been forgiven for being dismayed to see such heavy rainfall – with Sunday coinciding with the absolute wettest track conditions of the entire weekend.

But he was already fastest in Sunday morning warm-up in the rain, and took the lead from the second on the grid coming into Turn 1 – with second-row starter Franco Morbidelli’s bid to win out on the brakes coming up short and allowing the Ducati 1-2-3 from qualifying to be preserved.

Establishing an early six-tenths of a second cushion, Bezzecchi briefly looked like he’d come under pressure from poleman Alex Marquez, but that particular intrigue was shortlived. By the five-lap mark he was a second clear, less than two laps later that turned into two seconds, and on lap 14 of 25 his lead ticked over the four-second mark.

There was soon a change for second place instead, Bagnaia attacking Marquez at Turn 9 the following lap, with Marquez retaliating at Turn 11 but then ceding position for good at Turn 13.

Yet just two laps later after looking to have effectively consolidated second place Bagnaia slid out of contention at the very same corner he’d passed Marquez at.

Bagnaia’s exit meant Marquez was back in second place again, and he was successfully managing the gap to third-placed Morbidelli.

But after Morbidelli ran wide on the third-to-last lap to invite a charging Johann Zarco through, the Frenchman needed just a lap to arrive at the back of his fellow Ducati rider setting up a last-lap showdown that conclusively went Zarco’s way under braking into Turn 5.

The second-place finish was Zarco’s 16th MotoGP podium, albeit he’s still chasing his first win, while Marquez settled for third place – his third podium and first as a Gresini rider, wrapping up a Ducati 1-2-3.

Morbidelli cruised home in fourth, followed by Zarco’s Pramac team-mate Jorge Martin, who prevailed in a big early-race battle with KTM’s Jack Miller.

Fabio Quartararo rode an impressive recovery race to seventh place, scything his way back through the pack after being sent from 10th place to the back by a Takaaki Nakagami divebomb at Turn 7 on the opening lap.

Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati), Alex Rins (LCR Honda) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) completed the top 10, both Rins and Di Giannantonio having run in the top five early on.

Tech3 Gas Gas rookie Augusto Fernandez had a solid race in 11th, capitalising on a dreadful race for the Aprilias, which had been the bikes to beat in practice in the dry.

Neither works RS-GP showed anything of note in the race, Maverick Vinales coming home in 12th after a poor start and Aleix Espargaro slowly but surely collapsing to a torrid 15th, with Nakagami and Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) between them.

With Joan Mir absent after his sprint race crash, the depleted 17-rider field all made it to the chequered flag, but Bagnaia hadn’t been the only crasher.

The sprint’s 15th-to-first hero Brad Binder (KTM) was taken down in an opening-lap collision with Vinales, spending the rest of the race at the back.

Both the Binder/Vinales crash and the Nakagami divebomb on Quartararo were investigated by the stewards during the race, with neither yielding any further action.

Bagnaia’s crash means Bezzecchi now leads the championship by nine points, with Zarco and Marquez making it a Ducati 1-2-3-4 in the standings.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 25 25 44m28.518s 1m45.51s 0 25
2 Johann Zarco Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 25 0 +4.085s 1m46.312s 0 20
3 Alex Marquez Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 25 0 +4.681s 1m45.844s 0 16
4 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 25 0 +7.581s 1m45.929s 0 13
5 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 25 0 +9.746s 1m46.428s 0 11
6 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 25 0 +10.562s 1m46.081s 0 10
7 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 25 0 +11.095s 1m46.331s 0 9
8 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 25 0 +13.694s 1m46.547s 0 8
9 Alex Rins LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 25 0 +14.327s 1m46.249s 0 7
10 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 25 0 +18.515s 1m46.149s 0 6
11 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM 25 0 +19.38s 1m46.52s 0 5
12 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 25 0 +26.091s 1m46.511s 0 4
13 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 25 0 +28.394s 1m46.84s 0 3
14 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 25 0 +29.894s 1m46.596s 0 2
15 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 25 0 +36.183s 1m46.832s 0 1
16 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 25 0 +47.753s 1m45.897s 0 0
17 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 25 0 +48.106s 1m46.502s 0 0
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