What a response. After taking a crushing Tissot Sprint crash on Saturday, Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) put on a masterclass under the lights in Lusail to claim his 12th MotoGP win and keep his title hopes very much alive at the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar.
The Italian absolutely nailed his start from pole, shutting the door at Turn 1 to hold the lead ahead of Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team). Raul Fernandez (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) wasted no time making his presence felt either, diving past the world championship leader to demote the #93 to P3 right off the bat. Further back, Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) made a decent enough launch from 11th on the grid, though a slow-starting Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) soon barged his way past at Turn 12 on the opening lap.
By Lap 3, the leading Aprilia and Trackhouse machines had already stretched an advantage of over 1.5s back to Marc Marquez. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was swarming all over the rear wheel of the Ducati before pulling off a pass at Turn 15 to snatch the final podium spot. But that order didn't stick long. Acosta appeared to cop tyre pressure warnings on his dashboard by the sixth lap, seemingly allowing Marc Marquez back through at Turn 2. That dropped the #37 right behind the seven-time MotoGP World Champion.
At the halfway mark, Bezzecchi commanded a 1.2s lead over Fernandez, while Marquez and Acosta remained locked together 3.9s further back. Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) were scrapping over fifth and sixth, and Martin had climbed up to P7 by Lap 11 as Di Giannantonio faded.
Then Marc Marquez turned up the wick on Lap 14, slamming in a fastest lap of 1:52.558 that was nearly eight tenths quicker than Bezzecchi and nearly nine tenths faster than Fernandez. With four laps to go, the championship leader caught a real sniff of second place and easily grabbed P2 from Fernandez on the run out of the final corner.
Bezzecchi cruised across the line 3.6s clear to collect 25 points, ensuring the championship chase rolls on to the Portuguese Grand Prix with the gap sitting at 60 points between Marquez and Martin, and 74 back to Bezzecchi, with 74 left on the table. Fernandez held on for a stunning third place despite nursing two broken right fingers, while Ogura took fourth just 1.2s behind his teammate. Bastianini beat Acosta to fifth, with Acosta settling for sixth.
Jorge Martin brought his machine home in P7—a truly superhuman effort just two weeks after breaking his wrist in Australia. Di Giannantonio struggled from the front row to finish eighth, followed by Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) and Iker Lecuona, standing in for Alex Marquez at BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, rounding out the top 10.
Further down the points paying positions, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and Joan Mir’s stand-in Jake Dixon (Honda HRC Castrol) picked up points, with Dixon scoring in MotoGP for the first time in P14. Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) were forced to retire with mechanical problems.
Now, the paddock heads to Portimao for the penultimate round. To put it simply: if Marc Marquez wins the Sprint in Portugal, he will be crowned the 2026 World Champion.
MotoGP
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