2023 is the celebration of the 1,000th FIM Grand Prix World Championship event and the premier class of motorcycle racing, MotoGP celebrated it in style. We had an intense scrap for the win, wheel-to-wheel action up and down the field as well as drama galore with the big hitters, all culminating in Marco Bezzecchi keeping things clean and winning for the VR46 Ducati team. Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco made it a second and third place finish for Prima Pramac Ducati.
How it all happened
Where do we even begin with FIM’s 1,000th race? Let’s get to the start where the factory Honda of Marc Marquez took the lead and defended valiantly in the opening laps. Then the KTM of Jack Miller snatched the lead and held it for quite some time with Marquez still shadowing him. But once we got to the midpoint of the midpoint of the race, chaos ensued.
It all started with the Ducati of Franceso Bagnaia and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales controversially crashing out of the race. While it was deemed a racing incident, it certainly didn’t stop the two riders from having a small red mist moment where the two came to blows. Then, just 30 seconds later, Luca Marini and Alex Marquez were wiped out of the race. Eventually it became a race of attrition.
At the front however, Bezzecchi avoided all this and swooped into the lead and never looked back. From second place downwards however, it was a dogfight between Marquez and Jorge Martin and on the penultimate lap, the former cracked and crashed out of the race. In the end, Bezzecchi had a clinical second win of the season.
With another high-profile incident for Bagnaia, Bezzecchi is now just one point behind the former in the riders’ standings with KTM’s Brad Binder just 13 points back. Next up in the 2023 MotoGP calendar is the Italian Grand Prix scheduled to be held at Mugello between June 9-11.
