Marquez beats Bezzecchi in duel
Marc Marquez returned to winning ways after the summer break, but it was not easy in Austria after a big battle with Marco Bezzecchi.
Marquez took a breakthrough win at the Red Bull Ring, having resisted Bezzecchi in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel duel and held off a late charge from rising rookie Fermin Aldeguer.
Having also taken the Sprint, it gave the #93 a staggering sixth successive perfect weekend to grow his title lead to 142 points.
Starting from fourth on the grid on Sunday, Marquez had to wait to Lap 20 to finally steal the lead Bezzecchi, while he held off Aldeguer by just over a second.
Having been beaten by Ducati’s in last-lap thrillers from 2917 to 2019 at Spielberg, Marquez was thrilled to break the drought now racing in red.
“I lose three years in a row against the red bike and now I’m riding the red bike, so no excuses,” he laughed.
“I was all the race behind Marco, and I understand that I was using too much the rear tyre.
“I couldn’t brake as I wanted and I was using more the rear tyre on the [corner] exit so for that reason in the middle of the race, I just give up a bit, breathe, cool down the front tyre and then attack again in the last laps.
“I didn’t expect an outsider (Aldeguer) to arrive from nowhere with amazing pace. But the last three laps, I was pushing to keep the distance.”
Bezzecchi laid down his marker by taking pole with a 1:28.060 by a slender 0.016s over the other Marquez Alex.
Meanwhile, Francesco Bagnaia had a win on his winning teammate by restricting the #93 to fourth on the grid following a crash.
However, this did not stop Marc from maintaining his Sprint streak after beating his brother Alex on the Saturday afternoon.
The #93 bolted to second with a fast start, while Bagnaia suffered the opposite.
Experiencing significant wheelspin, Bagnaia slumped to 14th before issues with the soft rear tyre saw him go off at Turn 1 on Lap 8 and retire in the pits a lap later.
Up front it was the Marque brothers in charge, with Alex leading Marc, having both propelled past the polesitter.
Alex led Marc for the first nine laps before a mistake in the chicane opened the door for the #93 to pounce at the following corner.
Marc Marquez did not look back and took a comfortable 1s win as Pedro Acosta kept Bezzecchi off the podium.
After losing the lead instantly on Saturday, Bezzecchi held firm on Sunday as Bagnaia and Marc Marquez battled to be the best of the rest, swapping spots in consecutive corners.
Then the championship leader set his sights on Bezzecchi and the pair put on a brilliant show, especially through Turns 4 and 6 for multiple laps.
After the Aprilia rider lost the lead, he tried to retaliate at Turn 1 on the following lap, but ran wide.
This ended Bezzecchi’s hopes of victory as he then found himself under pressure to Aldeguer and the Gresini rider snatched second with a late lunge at Turn 3.
This left him with five laps to hunt down Marquez, but could not quite get close enough.
Behind the top three Acosta completed a solid weekend with a fourth as Enea Bastianini was fifth.
Jorge Martin’s battles with the #1 Aprilia continued as he had a fall, while Alex Marquez and Bagnaia slumped to 10th and eighth, respectively.
But it was a forgettable day for Australia’s Jack Miller as he was the last of the finishers, having ran out of fuel on the cooldown lap.
He was 18th and a distant 37s off the lead, ending a tough weekend at an untimely time for the Australian.
“In the race I tried everything possible I know how to do to find traction, whether it be short-shifting, being super patient on the throttle, whatever. It doesn’t matter what I did,” Miller said.
MotoGP heads to Hungary for the first time since 1992 at a new circuit in Balaton Park this weekend.
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