Bezzechi bags maiden win in Argentina

It was a weekend of firsts at the Argentine Grand Prix. Not only did Marco Bezzechi (Mooney VR46) pick up his maiden premier-class victory in a dominant display of wet-weather skill, but in doing so handed the Mooney VR46 outfit its debut MotoGP win as well as Ducati its first success at the Termas De Rio Hondo circuit.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) started the weekend with his first-ever MotoGP pole position and ended it with his first podium finish in 43 races. In fact, the Spaniard was strong all weekend and looked set for a certain second-place finish after Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) crashed in front of him on lap 18 of the 25-lap grand prix, but a long way behind in fifth place, an ominous Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac) was gathering up some stunning late-race pace, lapping a second quicker than anyone else on circuit.

When Zarco passed Alex Rins (LCR Honda) for fifth, Franco Morbidelli (Monster Yamaha) was five seconds ahead of the Frenchman, with Marquez a further second up the road. Zarco clawed Morbidelli in and passed the Yamaha rider with three laps to go and used the remaining time to reel in and pass Marquez at the start of the last lap, in what will surely go down as one of the best comeback rides of the season.

It meant that the podium was completed by three independent-team Ducatis, but more importantly Bagnaia’s non-score elevated Marco Bezzechi to the the top of the rider standings.

Behind them, Morbidelli hung onto fourth place; it was where he qualified and where he finished Saturday’s Sprint race, too, in a rejuvenated run of form we can only hope continues throughout the season. It wasn’t as great news for his teammate, though. The 2021 world champ Fabio Quartararo couldn’t find a way through to Q2 and qualified down in 14th place. He managed ninth in the Sprint, and was tagged by Taka Nakagami (LCR Idemitsu Honda) in the opening stages of the grand prix, but managed to claw his way back to seventh by the end after falling as low as 16th.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) had a weekend of ups and downs. From 15th on the grid, the South African rider got in incredible start in the Sprint race, blitzing the field to not only lead the race, but to hang on and win it ahead of Bezzechi and Bagnaia. It was a different story in the main race however, when he found himself on the deck on the opening lap. He did remount, but couldn’t do any better than 17th and last place.

His teammate Jack Miller got a decent launch off the back row of the grid to find himself up to ninth by lap four in the GP, and spent the majority of the race battling with the Prima Pramac Ducatis of Jorge Martin and Zarco, well as Alex Rins’ LCR Honda. And while the power of the Ducatis were eventually no match for his KTM, he managed to fend off a late charge by Quartararo and crossed the line sixth place behind Martin in fifth. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46) and Rins rounded out the top 10.

The factory Aprilia duo of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales had surprising ends to what was a dominant start to the weekend. The pair were at the pointy end of the two practice sessions on Friday, they qualified ninth and fifth respectively, but their seventh-DNF scores in the sprint and 12th-15th finishes in the main event fell well short of the potential shown throughout the weekend.

With 50 points, Bezzechi now leads the chase by nine points to Bagnaia (41). Zarco (35) moves up to third overall ahead of Alex Marquez (33) and Vinales (32). Aussie Jack Miller sits sixth overall with 25 points.

The championship now heads north to the Circuit of the Americas for Round 3 over 14-16 April.