Marco Bezzecchi won the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday in Lusail, leading from pole to flag ahead of Marc Marquez. The victory, his sixth of the season, delayed Marquez’s title coronation, as the championship leader must now wait until the Portimao sprint to secure a record eighth premier-class crown.
Marquez’s lead over Jorge Martin stands at 60 points with 74 still available after Martin finished seventh on Sunday, losing 11 points to the championship leader in the day’s race, according to series records. Bezzecchi, who gained five points on Marquez on Sunday, is third, 74 points behind with 74 points available, keeping him mathematically alive only if Marquez scores no points in the remaining rounds, records show.
Marquez can clinch the title by winning the Portimao sprint, which awards 12 points, as the best Martin could manage in that race would be second for nine points, according to series officials.
If Marquez wins the sprint, he would leave Portimao at least 63 points clear with only 62 points left to win, a one-point margin, records show. The Grand Prix at Portimao is no longer the round where the championship will be settled; the sprint is the decisive race, according to race officials.
In Sunday’s Grand Prix, Marquez was shuffled back at the start, waited out Acosta’s tyre-pressure troubles, set the fastest lap on lap 14 and picked off Raul Fernandez with four laps left, according to race reports. Marquez said he tried to preserve the front tyre at the start, then attacked after seeing Fernandez struggle, according to a statement from the rider.
Bezzecchi said the team deserved the result and that he felt fast and comfortable all weekend, making the win more important after Saturday’s crash, according to team statements. The crash occurred in the restarted sprint, when Bezzecchi touched Marquez on lap two and fell; stewards called it a racing incident with no further action, according to officials.
Marquez took a record 25th sprint win in Qatar on Saturday, a result that mattered more than Sunday’s race in the title context, according to series statistics. Martin went from 11th on the grid to third in the sprint, then scored nine points in the Grand Prix while racing with a fractured right wrist, according to medical reports.
Francesco Bagnaia was ruled out of the Grand Prix after a first-lap incident in the sprint, when Fermin Aldeguer hit Bagnaia’s Ducati, flinging it into the air, according to race officials. Aldeguer received a double long-lap penalty for the restart. MotoGP’s medical director confirmed two fractures in Bagnaia’s right foot, the fourth and fifth metatarsals, and Bagnaia was taken to a hospital in Doha to determine if surgery is needed, according to officials. Bagnaia is ninth in the championship on 173 points; whether he can ride at Portimao depends on the assessment, and Ducati has not said, according to team representatives.
Jake Dixon, covering for Joan Mir at Honda, took 14th and scored his first MotoGP points, according to race results. Before Sunday’s race, Marquez could have sealed the title if Martin had failed to score points; Martin finished seventh, according to series records.
The next round is the Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao, where the sprint will be held Saturday and the Grand Prix Sunday. Marquez will have his first chance to secure a record eighth premier-class title in the sprint, which requires finishing two points ahead of Martin, according to championship calculations.
