Marquez on brink of MotoGP title after narrow Misano win
MotoGP

Marquez on brink of MotoGP title after narrow Misano win

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
3 min read

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez defeated Marco Bezzecchi in a titanic battle for victory in the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.

Making up for his crash from the lead on Saturday, Marquez's win means he has pulled 182 points clear in the standings - and will need to outscore brother Alex, the only other rider left in mathematical contention, by three points at Motegi in a fortnight to wrap up the 2025 title.

Like on Saturday, Marquez was up to second right away from fourth on the grid, this time picking off Fabio Quartararo off the line and going around the outside of his brother into Turn 1.

He settled in behind Bezzecchi's Aprilia in the early laps, applying pressure that paid off when on lap 12 of 27 Bezzecchi came in too hot at Quercia, running wide and letting Marquez through.

However, the Ducati man was not able to break away, at one point making a mistake that dropped him back into the clutches of Bezzecchi and meant they spent the final laps locked in battle.

Bezzecchi fired in the fastest lap of the race up to that point on lap 24, but Marquez responded with a faster lap on lap 25, keeping the gap from dipping below three tenths and controlling the run to the finish.

The younger Marquez - running a special Gresini livery honouring late team founder Fausto Gresini - stayed in touch with the pair in the opening laps, but had no answer to their searing late-race pace, so ended up some seven seconds back at the finish in third.

He was followed by VR46 Ducati duo Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio, the latter failing to make a move stick on his team-mate on the opening lap, then never quite getting close enough to attack again.

Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer - also running the special livery - brought the bike home in sixth, ahead of Honda's Luca Marini, who was hindered by losing four places on the opening lap.

Quartararo ran fourth in the first half of the race, but got overtaken by four bikes in quick succession right after the halfway point, hanging on to finish eighth, 0.6s ahead of Yamaha stablemate Miguel Oliveira.

Brad Binder was the sole KTM running at the finish in 10th, followed by Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia), Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia).

Martin had his race compromised by a double long-lap penalty for a start procedure breach - which was triggered by him having to switch bikes after his primary RS-GP failed on the sighting lap.

The V4 Yamaha prototype scored points on its grand prix debut, with Augusto Fernandez fighting off LCR Honda's Somkiat Chantra for 14th - though both were over a minute down on the winner.

Fernandez's personal best lap was 1.5s down on the best lap of the race.

Pedro Acosta had worked his way past Di Giannantonio, Morbidelli and Quartararo in quick succession, settling into fourth place and then having his race ruined as the chain came off his KTM RC16 - something that had already happened to team-mate Brad Binder in Friday practice and Q1 on Saturday.

Honda stablemates Johann Zarco and Joan Mir - who skipped Saturday's track action due to a neck injury sustained on Friday - dropped out of contention on the opening lap in an unseen incident, Zarco carrying on a lap down.

Ai Ogura and Maverick Vinales crashed in that early phase, too, and Pecco Bagnaia then hit the deck at Turn 9 - where he'd already made a major mistake in the sprint - while just beginning to lose touch with Di Giannantonio up ahead of him in sixth.

Alex Rins - who like Fernandez served a double long lap for jumping the start - and Enea Bastianini also crashed out before the halfway point, Bastianini falling out of 10th place.

Results

1 Marc Marquez (Ducati)
2 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia)
3 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati)
4 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati)
5 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati)
6 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati)
7 Luca Marini (Honda)
8 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)
9 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha)
10 Brad Binder (KTM)
11 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia)
12 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha)
13 Jorge Martin (Aprilia)
14 Augusto Fernandez (Yamaha)
15 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda)
16 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda)
DNF Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM)
DNF Alex Rins (Yamaha)
DNF Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)
DNF Pedro Acosta (KTM)
DNF Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM)
DNF Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia)
DNF Joan Mir (Honda)

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