Marco Bezzecchi Wins at Termas De Rio Hondo taking Mooney VR46’s Maiden Victory as Pecco Bagnaia crashes out

It was wet at the Termas De Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina, the first wet race since the Thailand Grand Prix last season. All eyes were on Brad Binder to see if he could replicate his heroic win in the sprint race. Alex Marquez started from his first Grand Prix pole position ahead of fellow Ducati riders Marco Bezzecchi and Francesco Bagnaia.

Franco Morbidelli headed the second row, the Italian having his best weekend since Jerez 2021. His team-mate Fabio Quartararo was down in tenth place and would look to try and solve his issues during the race.

The lights went out and it was Marco Bezzecchi who took the holeshot ahead of Marquez and Bagnaia and Morbidelli. Johann Zarco had climbed up one place into the top five.

Yesterday’s sprint race winner went down at turn five, Quartararo was sat up by Takaaki Nakagami at turn seven and dropped down to 16th. Maverick Vinales had gone from fifth down to 13th.

Aleix Espargaro was getting aggressive with Zarco, taking fifth place from the Frenchman at turn one, Fabio Di Giannanotnio was finding confidence in the wet conditions, running in seventh place.

The top four were getting away as the battle for fifth raged on with Alex Rins joining in the fight, one of only two Hondas in the race.

Jack Miller was a rider to keep an eye on, the Australian is well-known for his wet weather abilities and by lap three he was inside the top ten.

Bez was starting to pull a gap on the Gresini Ducati rider, extending to over one second, but Marquez closed it back down to 0.8 in the third sector.

Miller overtook Zarco at turn seven to move into seventh, the Prima Pramac Ducati rider ran a little bit wide close to the paint and that was enough for the Red Bull KTM machine to move through.

By lap ten Quartararo was starting to claw his way up the order, passing Augusto Fernandez at turn seven to move into 13th.

Rins moved his LCR Honda into fifth place passing Di Gi into turn seven, the seventh corner looked to be a overtaking hotspot for the riders.

Miller and Martin were battling with each other every lap for eighth place as the pair of them tried to get to the group for fifth place.

The Prima Pramac Duacti’s were both making progress, passing Rins to move into fifth and sixth places, they had a six second gap for Morbidelli in fourth.

Bez was four seconds out in front, consistently the fastest rider on the track. Pecco and Marquez were yoyoing lap-by-lap.

Pecco made his move for second place at turn nine, but the Spaniard responded immediately at turn 11, the World Champion was not having that and out-braked Alex to take second; there was ten laps remaining.

On lap 18 Pecco Bagnaia lost the front at turn 13, a huge mistake from the championship leader. This meant Bezzecchi was inline to take the championship lead.

Quartararo had quietly gone about his business and moved up to seventh place with six laps remaining. Luca Marini passed Rins for eighth place at turn five.

Morbidelli ran a bit hot into turn seven and the charging Zarco moved into the podium places and set his sights on Marquez to take another second place in his MotoGP career.

Zarco pulled off the perfect block pass on Marquez to move into second place.

Marco Bezzecchi crossed the line become a MotoGP winner! The Mooney VR46 Racing Team were absolutely elated; Bez turning back the clock to 2018 where he took his maiden GP victory.

Zarco took another second place with amazing late race pace just ahead of Alex Marquez who takes his first podium since Aragon 2020.

Franky Morbidelli finished in fourth place, hopefully this weekend can be a great boost for the Italian.

Jorge Martin rounded out the top five. Miller and Quartararo were sixth and seventh. Pecco Bagnaia crossed the line to finish 16th just ahead of Brad Binder in 17th.

Bezzecchi took the championship lead ahead of Bagnaia, Zarco jumped up to third in the standings just ahead of Marquez.

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