MotoGP Indian GP: Bezzecchi dominates as Bagnaia crash blows title fight open

Having been an innocent victim in a Turn 1 collision with team-mate Luca Marini in Saturday’s sprint, Bezzecchi enjoyed a clear race this time around as he retook the lead he had lost at the start to claim his third win of 2023.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin just held on to second position from the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, the two riders finishing just two tenths adrift of each other after a tense final lap.

Championship leader Bagnaia had been running second ahead of title rival Martin on lap 13 when he fell off his factory Ducati at Turn 4, suffering his third retirement of the season.

It allowed Martin to cut Bagnaia’s championship lead to just 13 points, with Bezzecchi also making inroads into his countryman’s advantage.

At the start of the race, Martin got the holeshot from second to take the lead into the opening right-hander, with Bagnaia also getting the jump on polesitter Bezzecchi to demote the VR46 rider to third.

But Bezzecchi wasted little time in regaining lost positions, moving back up to second behind Bagnaia when Martin ran wide at Turn 4 and dropped from first to third.

At the final turn, Bezzecchi sent his year-old GP22 up the inside of Bagnaia into the final corner, making the move stick to snatch the lead back from the reigning champion.

By the start of lap 4, Bezzecchi was over a second clear of the chasing pack, helped by Bagnaia and Martin battling for position, before pulling even further clear of the pack in the middle of the race.

The 24-year-old eventually took the chequered flag more than eight seconds in front, scoring his first win since the French GP back in May.

After Bezzecchi had checked out at the front, Bagnaia and Martin initiated a close battle for second position, with Martin getting ahead on lap 5 with a textbook block pass.

But Bagnaia didn’t let Martin run away in second position and continued to chase the Pramac rider, finally repassing him on lap 12 when the latter ran slightly wide into the parabola.

However, just the following lap, Bagnaia crashed completely on his own going into Turn 4.

Bagnaia’s crash should have gifted Martin an easy second but the Spanish rider had to fight hard to secure the runner-up spot, after losing time tightening up his overalls.

This brought the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo into play and the two riders engaged in a thrilling final lap scrap after Martin ran wide at Turn 4. Quartararo briefly passed Martin for second, but the latter retook the initiative a few corners later and narrowly held on to the position in a close end to the 21-lap race.

Fourth place in the race went to KTM’s Brad Binder, who was able to make another strong recovery after a poor qualifying session to beat the top Honda of Joan Mir.

Johann Zarco was sixth aboard the second Pramac Ducati, while Franco Morbidelli leapt from 16th to 10th in the opening two laps before crossing the chequered flag in seventh place.

Maverick Vinales recovered from a Turn 1 contact to finish eighth in the lead Aprilia, with his team-mate Aleix Espargaro having to pull into the pits with a technical problem in what was his second retirement of the weekend.

Honda’s Marc Marquez took the chequered flag in ninth after an impressive recovery ride, having dropped to 16th after a crash on lap 6.

Marquez had been running fourth when he suffered a low-speed fall into Turn 1, but he managed to stay on his bike to continue the race. Lapping at the same pace as the frontrunners, Marquez was able to return to points-scoring positions within four laps before making further gains en route to ninth.

The top 10 was rounded off by Raul Fernandez on the RNF Aprilia.

Fresh off securing a new LCR contract for 2023, Takaaki Nakagami took 11th for LCR Honda ahead of the second RNF Aprilia of Miguel Oliveira, with Tech3’s Pol Espargaro, KTM rider Jack Miller and team-mate Stefan Bradl completing the list of points scorers.

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