With a total of 24 podiums, including six wins, from his passage in the Moto2 and Moto3 world, Marco Bezzecchi made the leap into MotoGP while testing his VR46 Racing Team motorcycle. Like Remy Gardner, Bezzecchi is one of the rookies for next year’s championship. But … what path did he take to get to where he will be?
The Rimini driver began his fame in the Italian Speed Championship when he became runner-up in 2014. After losing only to Manuel Pagliani, the current Valentino Rossi student fought his way back the following year and was crowned champion with three points ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio. In the same season, the young athlete won a total of seven races on a calendar with ten events.
After two years of racing in Italy (2014/2015) Bezzecchi switched to the Junior Moto3 World Championship and in 2016 defended the colors of the Mahindra – Aspar Junior Team. He scored five goals in a total of 12 races and finished seventh as the best result in race two in Jerez. Also this year he only took part in the Misano run (CIV), where he won both races. Between 2015 and 2016, he signed the current list in four world championship competitions – two a year – with no outstanding results.
After all the preparation and the results of the last few years, the 2017 season would be his first full-time as a World Championship driver. In the colors of the CIP and on a Mahindra, Bezzecchi shared a garage with his old rival Manuel Pagliani and fought for the title “Rookie of the Year”, who lost to Ayumu Sazaki with a difference of 12 points. Even so, the best moment of the season was third place at Motegi, in a year he was 23rd.
In 2018 he drove for PrüstelGP and competed with KTM machines. The start wasn’t the best – he only got two points in Losail – but he won in Argentina and from there almost always ended up on the podium in races where he reached the checkered flag. Overall, he made nine podiums – including three wins – and ended the year just behind Jorge Martín, the champion, and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Given the performance shown, 2019 would bring a new challenge: entering the Moto2 World Championship in the colors of Red Bull KTM Tech3. This rookie year in the middle class was not much different from the 2017 season: He finished the books as 23rd and with just under two dozen points. In addition to being the debut of a different technical regulation, the Italian also competed with a KTM chassis, which had more problems against Kalex.
Bezzecchi moved to SKY Racing Team VR46 in 2020, competing on a Kalex chassis and only reaching the third race of the championship to debut on the podium in the intermediate class. He started the season with four points – his worst result of the year – in Losail and was eliminated in Jerez. From then on, the races he finished always ended in the top seven and he said goodbye with five podium places, two more victories (GP Styria and GP Europe) and a total of 184 points from Valencia in fourth place. the championship. The consistency shown allowed him to discuss the title, but two crashes in the last five races ended with too many ambitions.
At the start of his third season in Moto2, the 23-year-old rider was once again involved in the battle for the championship. Although he did not have the same regularity as the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders, the # 72 climbed onto the podium in seven moments, where he was the first to cross the finish line only once in Styria. He secured third place in the championship and contested the last two races without any mathematical possibilities for the title.
After completing another World Championship, Bezzecchi made his MotoGP debut during the Jerez Tests after the calendar closed. Bezzecchi runs through the colors of Valentino Rossi’s team and will have Luca Marini as his teammate and with Raul Fernández (Tech 3 KTM), Darryn Binder (Yamaha RNF), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini / Ducati) for the title of Rookie of the Year discuss. and Remy Gardner (Tech 3 KTM).
Source: MotoGP