Pecco beats Marquez in Jerez MotoGP thriller

Just as it looked as if Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) was set to extend his championship lead out to a hefty 47 points at the end of Round 4 of the MotoGP World Championship, his title charge took a blow when he crashed out of the lead on lap 11.

It was pole sitter Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) who nabbed the holeshot from Martin, Marco Bezzechi (VR46 Ducati) and a fast-starting Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) from seventh on the grid. And unlike the previous two times a Ducati-mounted Marquez was in the lead – including in Saturday’s Sprint race – the eight-time world champ stayed on board, planning to make the most of the work he did on used tyres in the practice sessions leading up to the 25-lap Spanish Grand Prix.

As a tussle between Martin and Bagnaia played out at the front, front-row starter Bezzecchi muscled his way through on Marquez, relegating him to fourth, as the leading pair pushed each other, putting almost three quarters of a second between themselves and Bezzecchi by lap seven.

Further back it was Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) who was the best of the rest, holding off Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing), Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM), the Aussie making up six places to ninth after qualifying 15th.

Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta’s (GasGas Tech3) weekend didn’t go to plan after he qualified in 10th and dropped as low as 18th at the start of the race, and neither did KTM wildcard Dani Pedrosa’s, who crashed on lap four after being promoted to the Sprint race podium when third-placed Fabio Quartararo’s front tyre pressure fell fowl of the rules.

But when Sprint winner Martin slid out of the feature race on the 11th lap, he handed his rival Bagnaia a 0.838sec lead from Bezzecchi, who in turn was another 0.775sec clear of Marquez. The crash was enough to pique the interest of the Gresini Ducati man, who then put in his personal best lap of the race to that point to reach and then pass Bezzecchi just two laps later, giving the record home crowd something to cheer for and giving himself the remaining 12 laps of the grand prix to reel in Bagnaia, who was one second up the road.

With 10 laps to go, the gap between Marquez and the reigning world champ was 0.6sec as Bezzecchi found the limits of his GP23, dropping one second behind the Spaniard in a safe third place. Acosta meanwhile had clawed his way through the field, passing Miller for 10th with 10 laps to go, albeit 12 seconds behind Bagnaia.

But all eyes were on the battle between Bagnaia and Marquez, each with plenty to prove. Not only did they both crash out of the Sprint the day before, for Bagnaia, he was looking to turn his season around after dropping to fifth in the standings heading into the round, while Marquez was looking for his first GP win since 2021, and to top off his first pole position on the Ducati – aptly the 93rd of his career.

Bagnaia got the message and posted the fastest lap of the race on lap 17, while Marquez responded with a new best race lap of 1m37.708s, reducing the gap to under half a second with six laps to go. Marquez went quicker again the next time around and was all over the rear wheel of the factory Ducati with four laps remaining, the pair now separated – aptly again – by just 0.093sec.

The first lunge came at Turn 9 on lap 21, but Pecco was having none of it and put his Ducati where there wasn’t room forcing contact between the pair who both remarkably stayed on board. On the next lap, Pecco defended Turn 9 beautifully, but Marquez shoved it up the inside at Turn 10, and Pecco once again got him on the cutback; it was tense, close, but fair racing.

With two to go, it looked as if Marquez might have dropped back ever so slightly in order to cool his front tyre for a last-lap attack, but Bagnaia used all of his Ducati experience and resolve to post another record lap and to give himself breathing space for what was left of the dramatic contest. And even though a determined Marquez put in his personal best lap of the race on the final time of asking, it wasn’t enough for one last lunge on the last lap and Bagnaia crossed the line 0.372sec clear of Marquez to win arguably the best race of the season so far. 

Bezzecchi was 3.5 seconds further back in third, ahead of Alex Marquez, who won the battle for fourth from Bastianini and Binder. Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) was seventh, with Oliveira, Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) and Acosta rounding out the top 10.

Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Ducati) had some serious speed throughout the race, posting the fastest lap of the race on more than a couple of occasions, but a bold move on Miller on lap 18 put them both in the gravel, much like Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) did to Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) eight laps before.

With 92 points, Jorge Martin still leads the chase, his advantage down to 17 from Bagnaia, whose win elevates him to second in the standings on 75 points. Teammate Bastianini (70) is in third ahead of Acosta (69) and Vinales (63). Miller (22) slips to 14th overall.

The series now heads to Le Mans for the French Grand Prix which kicks off on Friday 10 May.