Bezzechi scores dream win at Mugello MotoGP

The Italian Grand Prix has been Ducati territory over recent years, but there’s a new Italian marque at the top of MotoGP and Aprilia well and truly made it their own. Not only did they set a new top-speed and all-time lap record with their increasingly dominant RS-GP with 368.6km/h on Friday, they locked out the front row in qualifying for the first time and claimed a gold and silver medal in the Sprint. And on the 50th anniversary of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, both Aprilia and Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) celebrated their maiden victories at the Mugello circuit. And they did it in Ducati’s celebratory centenary year.

Bez didn’t factor in the Saturday Sprint podium, though. It was Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez who took the gold medal ahead of Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati). But like he always seems to do on a Sunday, the Italian star found the speed and consistency to fulfil his boyhood dream of winning a premier-class grand prix at Mugello.

It was pole man Bezzecchi who arrived at Turn 1 first, but with front-row starter Fernandez way out wide, it was third-place starter Martin who muscled through to lead his title rival into the second corner. Both the factory Ducatis of Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez were quick off the second row to slot themselves into third and fourth, however Bezzecchi was back in front by Turn 4, keen not to lose any more points to teammate Martin.

But Bagnaia had other ideas. Capitalising on a mistake by Martin to start lap two saw him nab second place, before outbraking Bezzecchi into Turn 1 the next time around to take the lead. Further back in fifth place, a fast-starting Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) was all over the rear wheel of the still-recovering Marquez, with Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) completing the leading group of six, while Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Racing) was a further eight-tenths of a second away in seventh. A couple of fast laps from Bagnaia at the front created a gap between himself and Bezzecchi, with Martin in third, while the Marquez-versus-Acosta battle raged on, slowly but surely ensuring the two future teammates were dropping further and further back from Martin in P3.

With Aldeguer all over the rear wheel of Acosta, the KTM man made his move on Marc into the final corner on lap six, only for Marquez to power back past his fellow Spaniard down the straight. Acosta barged back through a few corners later and Aldeguer followed, relegating the reigning world champ to sixth. But Marquez used all of his experience to motor past the two younger Spaniards the next time down the straight. All their passing, meanwhile, had brought Ogura onto the rear wheel of Aldeguer, with Di Giannantonio also closing at a rapid pace in eighth.

The three-tenths of a second gap between Bagnaia and Bezzecchi stayed consistent throughout the opening 10 laps, as Martin’s buffer back to Marquez in fourth place was now almost three seconds. A series of fast laps reduced the gap between himself and Bezzecchi ahead to just over seven tenths, but Bezzecchi was eyeing a move on Bagnaia for the lead as he was as close to the Ducati as he’d been all race.

The race-winning move came with 10 laps to go, as Bezzecchi outbraked his VR46 Academy colleague into the opening turn. And while the Marquez and Acosta scuffle continued to play out on lap 14, Bezzecchi dug deep to put a full second between himself and Bagnaia by the time he crossed the line to start lap 15. Martin also responded, keen not to let his title rival disappear as he clawed his way onto the rear wheel of Bagnaia. Further back, Acosta finally got through on Marquez as Ogura and then Di Giannantonio muscled their way past Aldeguer.

Martin’s move for second place on Bagnaia came on lap 16, with a further five seconds back to the four-way battle between Acosta, Marquez, Ogura and Di Giannantonio. But after five crashes during the previous round from Martin, the 2024 world champ showed restraint at Mugello, as Bezzecchi continued to grow the gap between himself and his teammate until Martin eventually settled for second place and 20 points.

There was no settling for a struggling Bagnaia, though. His five-second buffer was reduced to 3.9 seconds in a single lap, as both Ogura and Di Giannantonio relegated Marquez to sixth. Ogura pushed Acosta wide into Turn 1 to start lap 20 and the pair made contact, while Di Giannantonio followed the Japanese rider through on the KTM a few corners later. With two laps to go, Ogura was 1.8 seconds from Bagnaia, which he halved to 0.9sec on the penultimate lap. Bezzecchi’s lead was out to three seconds from Martin, who was a further 2.1sec clear of the Ducati rider, but the Japanese star was on the move. He caught Bagnaia by the end of the lap and even made a move on the former world champ into the final corner, but Bagnaia got him on the cut-back and held him off by just 0.04sec at the chequered flag to give Ducati a spot on the podium at its home grand prix.

Di Giannantonio crossed the line in fifth, just three-tenths behind Ogura, with Acosta ahead of Marquez in sixth and seventh respectively. Aldeguer was eighth ahead of Fernandez, who recovered to ninth, while rookie Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) passed HRC’s Joan Mir on the last lap to finish 10th.

Aussie Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha) qualified 19th and crossed the line in 16th, but was promoted one position for a single world championship point when teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu exceeded track limits on the final lap.

Bezzecchi extends his championship lead by two points to 17, with 173 points to Martin’s 156, while Di Giannantonio remains third on 134. Acosta (103pts) stays fourth, with Ogura (92pts) leapfrogging teammate Fernandez (87pts) into fifth overall. Miller is 23rd with three points.

The series now heads to Hungary’s Balaton Park, with practice kicking off this Friday.