Bezzecchi Wins Qatar MotoGP as Marquez Keeps Title Within Reach
Marco Bezzecchi won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, leading from pole position and taking his sixth win of the season. Pole position is the fastest spot in qualifying, so it means starting at the front of the grid. Marc Marquez finished second, and Spanish rider Raul Fernandez, who races for Trackhouse Aprilia, took third.
The race was held at the Lusail International Circuit. Marquez had already won the Saturday sprint, a shorter race of 10 laps. That sprint was stopped part-way through by a red flag, the signal officials use to halt a race while it is still running. Reuters reported the stoppage.
The bigger story is the championship. Marquez, the reigning MotoGP champion from Ducati, could have wrapped up a second straight title in Qatar. That would have needed Jorge Martin to finish outside the points. Martin, the 2024 champion, finished seventh, which kept his points flowing and stopped Marquez from clinching. BBC Sport reported the result.
Points are awarded by finishing position, with the winner collecting the most. Marquez now leads Martin by 60 points. Bezzecchi, who is Martin's team-mate at Aprilia, sits 74 points behind Marquez, with 74 still available over the rest of the season. A win for Marquez would have matched Valentino Rossi's record of eight MotoGP titles. The next round is at Portimao in Portugal, where Marquez has a chance to seal it.
Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia will not have taken part in the Sunday race. He fell in the sprint and has fractures in his right foot, according to MotoGP.com. Bagnaia had qualified fourth in practice, and his team-mate Marquez was second quickest in the same session. The Ducati Lenovo Team had both riders in direct qualifying to Q2, the second of the knockout qualifying stages.
Practice times give a sense of the pace. Marquez set the fastest lap in first practice at 1:52.278, with Bezzecchi behind him and Martin fifth. Those times reflect a single session, though, and the race result tells a different story about who had the edge on the day.
Bezzecchi's win moves him closer to the top of the standings, but Marquez still holds the lead. With a handful of rounds left, the title is far from settled.
