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MotoGP: Bezzecchi Wins After Quatararo Fail, Red Flag Drama
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi takes first MotoGP win in 20 months after leader Fabio Quartararo exits with a technical issue.
Marco Bezzecchi has won a chaotic British Grand Prix for Aprilia’s first victory of the 2025 season in a race that was initially red-flagged for an oil spill as riders crashed or retired while in the lead, including pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo.
The victory was a first for Aprilia since the Grand Prix of the Americas last year. LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco came second on Sunday and Ducati’s Marc Marquez pipped Franco Morbidelli to finish third and extend his lead in the riders world championship.
Both Alex Marquez and his brother Marc crashed while leading before the race was restarted for an oil spill while Yamaha’s Quartararo took the lead at the second time of asking before being forced to retire on lap 12 due to a technical issue with his bike.
Bezzecchi’s victory was his first since the 2023 Indian Grand Prix, and the Italian also became the 11th different winner at Silverstone in the past 11 races.
“It’s amazing. It has been a really tough time for me in this past month. … Aprilia trusted in me, and we worked really hard,” Bezzecchi said.
“The team made a wonderful job. … I was waiting for a day like this since my last win.”
On the first start, sprint winner Alex Marquez had a perfect launch to take the lead from Quartararo, but just as he leaned into turn one, he lost control and crashed, allowing Marc Marquez to take the lead.
The elder Marquez also lost control, however, and crashed out of the lead – but the Marquez brothers earned a reprieve when the red flag came out for an oil spill in the final sector after Franco Morbidelli and Aleix Espargaro collided and crashed.
Race restarted
Since three laps had not been completed, all riders were eligible for the restart. Quartararo took the lead from Francesco Bagnaia and streaked away to a full second’s lead on the opening lap.
Both factory Ducatis suffered on lap three at Copse corner when they went wide as Marc Marquez and Bagnaia dropped to ninth and 10th place.
Bagnaia’s race ended on the following lap when he crashed while Bezzecchi moved up to third behind Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller.
Behind them, Marc Marquez was a man on a mission as he methodically picked his way through the pack, and by lap 11, he had moved up to fourth.
Yamaha’s dreams of taking the chequered flag went up in smoke as Quartararo signalled he had a problem with his bike, and the Frenchman relinquished his lead of nearly five seconds as his ride-height device had failed.
Quartararo stopped by the side of the track, hopped off his bike and sank to his knees with his head on the tarmac as the shell-shocked Yamaha garage looked on.
“When I saw Fabio with a technical problem, I even thought about a victory,” said Zarco, the first Honda rider to take back-to-back podiums since Marc Marquez in 2021.
Bezzecchi held on to win, though, while Marc Marquez swapped places with VR46 Racing’s Franco Morbidelli several times on the final lap before taking third in a photo finish.
“Today we were lucky because I made a mistake,” said a fuming Marc Marquez, who now leads his brother by 24 points in the world championship.
Aljazeera.com
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